releases imprisoned journalists after speaking with Trump

“We had an excellent conversation today and she is a fantastic person. In fact, she is someone with whom we have worked very well,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House.

The Republican president added that the call was “long,” that they addressed “many issues” and that he is getting along “very well with Venezuela.”

Trump spoke with Rodríguez a day before receiving the Venezuelan opposition leader at the White House Maria Corina Machadowho for the moment has been excluded by the US from the transition in Venezuela.

Venezuelan diplomatic sources consulted by Efe They confirmed that the conversation was “very extensive and very good” and with an “excellent” tone between both leaders, who are already working to rehabilitate the formal diplomatic channels that have been broken for years.

Delcy Rodríguez, who was vice president during the term of Nicolas Madurotook office after US special forces captured the Chavista leader and his wife on January 3 in Caracas, Cilia Floresand they will be taken to New York to be tried for drug trafficking.

Trump maintains that the US maintains tutelage over the Venezuelan government and has announced agreements to receive millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude oil.

For his part, Rodríguez reported this Wednesday that in recent days 406 political prisoners have been released in the country and that the release process “remains open.”

Release of journalists

Hours after the telephone conversation between the US president and the president in charge of Venezuela, the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) of Venezuela counted this Wednesday a total of 19 journalists released from prison in the country.

As part of a release process launched by the Government in charge of Delcy Rodríguez in the midst of rapprochements with the United States.

Almost a week after the president of Parliament and brother of the president in charge, Jorge Rodriguezannounced the release of a “significant number of people”, the releases of journalists from a group of 24 that the SNTP had registered as detainees began to be confirmed.

According to a union list, five journalists remain deprived of libertyamong them the former opposition deputy Juan Pablo Guanipaa recognized ally of Nobel Prize winner María Corina Machado.

For its part, the NGO Espacio Público stated in X that the journalists still have to be released. Juan Francisco Alvarado, Locenis Garcia y Rory Brankerwhom he considered “unjustly detained.”

Roland Carreño stands out among the released communicatorsalso an activist from the opposition party Voluntad Popular (VP), who had been arrested on August 2, 2024, after the crisis unleashed by the presidential elections on July 28 of that year, in which the electoral body – of official rectors – proclaimed the victory of Nicolás Maduro, which was rejected by the majority opposition.

Carreño had already been arrested on October 26, 2020 – accused of financing terrorism, conspiracy and illicit trafficking in weapons of war – and was released on October 18, 2023, after an agreement signed then between Chavismo and the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which groups the majority opposition in Venezuela, in Barbados.

In a video broadcast by the local media The Truth of Vargasthe journalist said he hopes that future events will lead to encounter, peace and reconciliation.

Carreño maintained that there are still “many people in prisons,” so he hopes they will be released gradually “until there are no prisoners left.” “It is neither good nor healthy for a country to have political prisoners”he added, in statements collected by Efe.

Among those released are also Yorbin Garcia, Victor Ugas, Gabriel Gonzalez, Julio Balza, Carlos Marcano, Nakary Mena Ramos, Gianni Gonzalez, Omario Castellanos, Carlos Lesma, Rafael Garcia, Leandro Palmar, Luis Lopez, Belises Cubillan, Mario Chavez, Angel Godoy, Ramon Centeno, Carlos Julio Rojas and the political scientist and director of the digital medium Punto de Corte, Nicmer Evans.

Between hugs and prayers

Evans was taken to his residence in Caracas by officials of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), according to images shared by the Colombian media. NTN24where his wife and son welcomed him with hugs.

Martha Cambero, Evans’ wife, responded “thank you, thank you, thank you” to the media outlet, while the recently released man did not make any statements.

For its part, Carlos Julio Rojas went to the church of La Candelariain the center of Caracas to thank for his release, as could be seen in a video published by NTN24 on X.

Rojas was arrested on April 15, 2024 and accused of several association crimes such as terrorism, conspiracy, instigation to commit a crime and attempted assassination.

The authorities accused him of being allegedly linked to a plan to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro during the registration of his presidential candidacy, in March 2024, for the elections on July 28 of that same year.

There will be more releases

The president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, reported this Wednesday that “the process of releasing political prisoners remains open”, which, she said, began last December, when, she assured, “194” releases took place.

“As of today we can say that there are already, that there are already 406 releases planned in these days”declared from the presidential palace of Miraflores, together with the head of Parliament and the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Hair.

The president in charge assured that the objective is to open a new political moment in Venezuela that allows “understanding from divergence and political diversity.”

From last Thursday until 1:50 p.m. local time (6:50 p.m. Spanish peninsular time) this Wednesday, the NGO Foro Penal, which counted more than 800 political prisoners on Sunday, had verified 72 releases.

These latest releases took place a few days after the US attacks on Venezuelan soil and Trump said in a meeting with Republican congressmen that the Caracas authorities were closing a “torture” center.