Venezuela’s socialist regime released a new group of at least 24 political prisoners during the early morning hours of Monday, the non-government organization Foro Penal announced.

The number represents a minimal fraction of the over 800 confirmed political prisoners that the Venezuelan regime maintained as of the end of 2025, according to Foro Penal.
Foro Penal detailed on social media that, as of 02:43 a.m. (local time) on Monday, a group of nine women and 15 men — all political prisoners of the Venezuelan regime — were released. The women had been unjustly imprisoned at the La Crisálida female prison in Los Teques, Miranda, while the men were imprisoned at the Rodeo I Prison in the Miranda municipality of Zamora.

“We are verifying other releases of Venezuelans and foreigners that also took place early this morning,” Foro Penal wrote.

Among those released are Italian nationals Alberto Trentitni, an international aid worker from Venice, and Turin-based businessman Mario Burlò, both of whom were unjustly detained by Venezuelan authorities on November 2024 and reportedly held at the Rodeo I prison in Zamora, Miranda. According to Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, no citizen with only Italian citizenship remains imprisoned in Venezuela at press time. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni celebrated their released and said in a video shared on social media that the two men will soon return to their country.

“This news fills us with joy, adding to the happiness we felt in recent hours at the release of our other compatriots. Trentini and Burlò will soon be reunited with their families, who have suffered greatly in recent months and to whom we obviously wish to renew our affection,” Meloni said.

“This result is the fruit of discreet but effective work carried out in recent months not only by the government but also by the diplomatic network and intelligence services, and I would like to thank all the servants of the state who, at various levels, have contributed to achieving this goal,” she continued. “We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the constructive collaboration established with the authorities in Caracas can produce further positive developments, and in the same way, Italy will not tire of supporting the legitimate desire of the Venezuelan people for freedom, peace, and democracy.”

Prior to the early Monday morning wave of releases, Foro Penal’s president Alfredo Romero detailed on Saturday that the Venezuelan regime had only released 17 political prisoners since January 8, the day when National Assembly leader Jorge Rodríguez — and brother to current “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez — announced that an “important number” of Venezuelan and foreign nationals kept as political prisoners would be released as part of a “unilateral gesture aimed at ensuring that the country continues to live in peace and productivity.”
Last week, Foro Penal explained that the Venezuelan socialist regime was holding 863 confirmed political prisoners as of December 29, 2025, 862 adults and a teenage minor between the ages of 14 and 17. Of the total, the whereabouts of 68 political prisoners remained unknown by the organization. The actual conditions of most of the political prisoners remains publicly unknown at press time.

On Sunday, the Venezuelan Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners, a human rights group, denounced that 52 year-old police officer and political prisoner Edison José Torres Fernández died under state custody. Torres Fernández was unjustly detained by Venezuelan law enforcement authorities in December 2025 for having shared messages critical of both the Venezuelan regime and the governor of Portuguesa state, where he resided.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab, in a Sunday statement, claimed that the man allegedly suffered a “sudden deterioration in his health” and was immediately transferred to a healthcare center, where he was “admitted with vital signs and promptly attended to by medical personnel.”

“However, he suffered a cerebrovascular event followed by cardiac arrest, which led to his death,” Saab claimed in the statement, without providing any further details.

Venezuelan human rights organizations accused the Venezuelan socialist regime of committing “institutional indifference” through the slow, ongoing process to release all of the political prisoners. Numerous family members of the political prisoners have spent the past days in prayer vigils outside Venezuelan detention centers in hopes that their relatives are finally released by Venezuelan authorities. Relatives of the prisoners reportedly told the Spanish news agency EFE that they were finally allowed to visit the prisoners over the weekend, who assured that they  were unaware of any “type of news,” but were pleased to hear the announcement of the releases.

Similarly, a group of relatives of political prisoners held a vigil in Caracas on Saturday afternoon outside the Helicoide (“The Helix”), the Venezuelan regime’s largest and most infamous torture center. The group demanded the immediate execution of release orders that would grand freedom to their relatives.

The Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional pointed out on Sunday that no political prisoner has been released from the Helicoide since Jorge Rodríguez’s Thursday announcement. At press time, no Venezuelan outlet or organization has reported the release of any political prisoner from the Helicoide nor any further wave of releases since the 24 released on early Monday morning.

On Friday, President Donald Trump announced on a Truth Social post that he cancelled a second wave of attacks in response to Venezuela’s release of a “large number” of political prisoners.

“Venezuela is releasing large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of “Seeking Peace.” This is a very important and smart gesture. The U.S.A. and Venezuela are working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure,” President Trump’s message read in part.

“Because of this cooperation, I have cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks, which looks like it will not be needed, however, all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes,” he continued.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.