The United States has urged Venezuela to release the political prisoners still in detention. Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the issue in a meeting on Monday with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco, alongside reforms aimed at creating conditions for free, fair and credible elections, according to the US State Department.

More than 1,000 political prisoners have been released since US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a January 3 raid in Caracas and took him to New York, where he faces drug-trafficking and torture charges. Foro Penal, a Venezuelan prisoners’ rights group, says 322 people remain detained.

The release of detainees has been a longstanding demand of opposition leader María Corina Machado. She returned to Venezuela on October 25 after almost a year in exile, and one of her first meetings was with relatives of political prisoners. Many detainees were arrested after the 2024 presidential election.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of that vote. However, opposition-collected tallies, verified by independent media, indicated that the opposition candidate had won. The Carter Center, which sent observers, said the election could not be considered democratic. A UN fact-finding mission later reported harsh repression of people viewed as opponents or those expressing dissent.

Maduro’s vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as interim president after his capture. The Trump administration has backed Rodríguez, while opposition parties in Venezuela have voiced frustration over the pace of reforms.

The State Department said the US remains committed to President Donald Trump’s three-phase plan of stabilisation, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition. Rubio said the country’s election infrastructure needed to be replaced for future elections to be valid, and that the process should happen quickly.

Rodríguez has said in a televised address that elections would take place under a renewed electoral authority, but gave no timetable. Machado has called for a vote in 2027, including at one point proposing July 24, the anniversary of Simón Bolívar’s birth. She has since returned to urging an election sometime next year.

Sources: BBC News World.