Venezuela has announced the release of over 400 prisoners. Among them are political prisoners as well as American citizens. The Maduro government has a long history of detaining Americans to exert political pressure on the US government.

At least five Americans had been arrested in Venezuela in recent months.

The President of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodriguez, has said that the release of prisoners has been carried out in recent weeks in a process presented by the government as a "peace" gesture.

However, human rights organizations give lower assessments of this situation.

According to the NGO Foro Penal, which monitors the cases of detainees considered political, between 60 and 70 people had been released since Tuesday, January 13.

NGOs also denounce the slowness of the process, the lack of transparency, and the marked discrepancy between the figures published by the authorities and those verified on the ground.