Families anxiously wait for prisoners to be released in Venezuela, just nine freed

Women gather outside El Rodeo jail after Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez announced that a significant number of both foreign and Venezuelan prisoners will be freed, in El Rodeo, Miranda state, Venezuela January 8, 2026. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Nine people considered political prisoners by ‌a leading Venezuelan rights group had been released by Friday afternoon as part of an effort praised by U.S. President Donald ‌Trump, the group said, with families of others anxiously waiting to hear if their relatives would also be freed.

Human ‌rights groups, international bodies and opposition figures - including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has several close allies imprisoned - have long demanded the release from Venezuelan jails of some 800 people they consider political prisoners.