Venezuela's National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez announced on January 8 the release of "a significant number" of political prisoners, both Venezuelan and foreign, in a calculated move demonstrating the interim government's willingness to meet US demands following Nicolás Maduro's ouster.

The announcement, delivered during a brief press conference at the Federal Legislative Palace, came five days after US forces extracted Maduro from Caracas and as Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined Washington's three-phase plan for Venezuela including demands for political reconciliation and prisoner releases.

"Consider this gesture by the Bolivarian Government, with its broad intention to seek peace, as the contribution that we all must make to ensure that our republic continues its peaceful life and its pursuit of prosperity," Rodríguez, who is the brother of acting president Delcy Rodriguez, said in remarks broadcast on state television.

Yet his evasive response to questions about energy agreements with the United States, claiming "I don't know what energy agreement you're talking about,” suggested internal regime tensions over how openly to acknowledge cooperation with the White House whilst maintaining revolutionary credentials before domestic constituencies.

According to NGO Foro Penal, Venezuela held 863 political prisoners as of its latest count, including 86 foreigners or dual nationals. Rodríguez did not specify how many would be freed, which detention centres would be affected, or whether releases constituted conditional liberty or full pardons. He said the decision represented a "unilateral gesture" by the government, crediting acting president Delcy Rodríguez whilst thanking international mediators including former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Qatar.

The timing aligns precisely with Rubio's public blueprint, which identifies political reconciliation including prisoner releases as central to the "recovery" phase of Washington's strategy. Trump administration officials have made clear that demonstrating progress on such measures within weeks represents a key condition for continued cooperation with Venezuela's interim leadership.

Jorge Rodríguez, 59, has served as the regime's chief negotiator for years, representing the Maduro regime in talks with opposition figures and international mediators. His role orchestrating the 2023-2024 negotiations with the Biden administration, which offered sanctions relief in exchange for electoral commitments that Caracas subsequently violated, established him as a key architect of the regime's engagement strategy.

Now, as National Assembly president and third in constitutional succession behind his sister Delcy, he occupies a pivotal position within the precarious triumvirate governing post-Maduro Venezuela. However, his public disavowal of "any extremist sector, " his habitual characterisation of opposition leaders including Nobel laureate María Corina Machado, whilst simultaneously releasing political prisoners associated with that movement lays bare inherent contradictions.

"We are talking with political institutions, political parties, and political organisations that will abide by and comply with what is established in the Constitution," Rodríguez stated, framing releases as magnanimous gestures toward reconciliation rather than capitulation to US demands, a caveat crucial for maintaining credibility with Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who controls the brutal security forces accused of detaining many now being freed.

Trump recently announced that El Helicoide, the notorious SEBIN headquarters functioning as Venezuela's most infamous political prison, would shut its doors. But Foro Penal reported no progress at the facility, claiming the announcement represented aspiration rather than accomplished fact.

The latest prisoner release announcement may constitute the regime's first attempt to demonstrate compliance whilst maintaining operational control. This mirrors the broader accommodation between the Trump administration and the Rodríguez siblings: whilst publicly spouting revolutionary rhetoric and denying knowledge of commercial dealings that American officials discuss openly, the interim government delivers on substantive demands including oil sales, prisoner releases, and cooperation regarding intercepted tankers.