The Venezuelan opposition calls for the release of all political prisoners

1. Hope is democracy
2. There is fear and uncertainty

Five days after the historic capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro by US special forces, the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly announced on 8 January the release of 11 political prisoners from El Helicoide, the Caracas headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, known as a torture prison.

Venezuelans are experiencing turbulent times both inside and outside their country and have gone from the shock of the first few hours of witnessing that Maduro is no longer in charge of Venezuela to evaluating, day after day, the information shared by US President Donald Trump himself about his immediate plans for the South American country.

So far, for the Venezuelan opposition taking refuge in Spain, these first releases are a good sign. However, it is necessary that almost a thousand political prisoners who remain imprisoned by the Chavista regime be released.

In the opinion of María Gabriela Olavarría, in the current circumstances, these political prisoners are being threatened, and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado is aware of this.

‘We know that there are more than 800 political prisoners who have been threatened. More than 100 of our colleagues have been unjustly imprisoned... There are many innocent people who are in prison, some simply for opening WhatsApp and seeing a news item about María Corina,’ says the spokesperson for Comando Venezuela in Spain.

In an interview from her residence in Madrid, Olavarría expresses her concern for her compatriots who are under a regime of terror and persecution: ‘We know that they are being subjected to searches, checkpoints and harassment, and that their phones are even being checked for messages of support for Trump or Machado.’

As spokesperson for this group, which brings together various Venezuelan politicians who have sought asylum in Spain and who support the president-elect, Edmundo González, and Corina Machado, she insists that there can be no talk of the beginning of a transition until the first major step is taken to release from prison the large group of political prisoners, which includes not only opponents of the regime but also many civilians, including foreigners.

How do you feel about what is happening in Venezuela?

We have gone from an initial moment of intense mixed emotions: from joy to confusion and even misinformation, to analysing events moment by moment; it is something that María Corina has always said, we have learned to take it one hour at a time... One day at a time. The situation is very complex.

The activist says that Trump deserves gratitude: ‘It has been a successful removal of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores; the collateral damage has been minimal and although, unfortunately, there were losses of life, it was possible to remove Maduro: he decided to exhaust the peaceful route and decided to take this path that we are on.’

We understand that bringing down the Chavista regime that is spread throughout the state will not happen overnight...

Bringing down 27 years of a Chavista structure cannot be achieved solely by capturing Maduro, who is also the leader of the Cartel de los Soles. Venezuelans who woke up there on 3 January were terribly frightened. Then came the euphoria over Maduro's arrest and his transfer to the United States. For us, it is very significant to see him sitting before a federal court. Justice has come to the regime.

Now, Olavarría points out, the transition process will not be easy: "We have to understand something: we have completely lost democracy for many years; the rule of law and, therefore, we have lost the institutions of the state. They have practically been left at the mercy of a criminal organisation."

Hope is democracy

Most Venezuelans who have sought refuge in other countries view the Chavista network as equivalent to a criminal terrorist organisation, which is the same curious explanation provided by Olavarría.

‘The case of Venezuela is complex because it is not a conventional dictatorship, but a criminal terrorist organisation involved in drug trafficking, the black market trade in oil and rare minerals, and businesses such as human trafficking and even child prostitution,’ she points out.

The opposition leader highlights that the darkest businesses are those that this network has developed with international support: ‘For example, with terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas or Colombian military groups such as the FARC and the ELN, which entered Venezuela and caused damage to our indigenous communities.’

It seems like a very arduous task to dismantle the entire structure and these influences...

In this first phase, what Trump must do is completely dismantle the criminal structure, and then begin a transition where the priority is, of course, to comply with the mandate that all Venezuelans gave on 28 July 2024 in the elections to the president-elect, Edmundo González. And, of course, we must dismantle all these terrorist gangs of which Delcy Rodríguez and her brother, Jorge, are part, as well as Diosdado Cabello, Padrino López and the entire leadership that is sanctioned by the European Union and the US.

For the moment, the euphoria over Maduro's fall has been cut short after seeing Delcy at the helm. What is your perception?

Delcy is the instrument that will allow Trump to completely dismantle Chavismo and bring about an orderly and stable transition, which we are also very capable of doing... We have been working on this from abroad and already have a plan for the first 100 days.

What is this plan about?

We want to become an energy hub and contribute to the stability of the region by restoring democracy and reinserting ourselves into the international community.

We intend to become a reliable economic partner by offering judicial guarantees once we restore the rule of law. I can tell you that once the transition is complete, we are prepared with this government project based on a mechanism developed with specialists to restore Venezuela in the short term. Olavarría affirms that Venezuelans have the resources to do so, but insists that we must look at the whole picture and not fall into the trap of speculation.

‘We don't want to get into interpretations.’

Here in Europe, people are wondering who was the mole in Maduro's government. What can you tell me about that?

Talking about a mole would be speculation because these are obviously intelligence operations, and the people who really run these operations in the White House are President Trump and his team. Obviously, they are not going to reveal names... However, this process is still ongoing and has not been completed.

It is not enough to remove the head because the body of the snake remains, and I cannot answer because it would be speculating on the matter; but Trump has said several times that Delcy Rodríguez has to comply with the things they have discussed: she already knows the warnings that both Trump and Marco Rubio have given her.

There is fear and uncertainty

In an ideal world, the more than 8 million Venezuelans living outside their country would long for the triumphant return to Venezuela of President-elect Edmundo González, who remains in exile in Spain, and María Corina Machado. However, for the time being, this will remain a fond wish, because President Trump has reiterated to the media that, for the time being, the United States will lead the government in Venezuela indefinitely.

Both Trump and Machado have met at the White House, and Olavarría recalls that Machado herself said publicly that they are in talks.

‘As everything is a strategy that cannot be revealed, neither the talks nor the political strategy to achieve the transition,’ according to the spokesperson for Comando Venezuela in Spain.

Amidst all the anticipation surrounding the Venezuela issue and the decisions that Trump and his team will make, analysts in Europe continue to emphasise that the United States' latest interventionist operations have not gone very well in countries such as Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

Olavarría remains hopeful that Venezuela can peacefully restore its democracy despite all the external interests at play in the South American country, with foreign groups that first supported Hugo Chávez and then Nicolás Maduro and have accommodated themselves to economic power.

"We have an unprecedented situation...

There is no crystal ball to tell us what will happen, but one would like it to be as undramatic as possible because no one wants the Venezuelan people, already severely affected by poverty, to suffer. This has been the consequence of 27 years of looting of the richest country in the region," says the activist.

What would you say to all those who today condemn the operation ordered by Trump and question it as interventionist?

First, to those who say that there has been a violation of international law and human rights, I ask that in their discourse they remember our political prisoners; the suffering of the Venezuelan people who are starving and the people who are persecuted and dying, day after day, because they lack medical care and their human rights are not guaranteed.

Olavarría points out that there are various reports from different international organisations, such as the UN, which confirm state terrorism in Venezuela, as well as crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations committed first by Hugo Chávez and then by Nicolás Maduro. ‘I ask you to read these reports so that you know about the atrocities that have been committed.’