An announcement by Venezuela’s interim government that it would free a “substantial number” of political prisoners — a move publicly celebrated by President Donald Trump as a breakthrough — has stalled almost as soon as it began, exposing a fierce internal power struggle inside the fractured Chavista regime following the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

Despite official statements promising significant releases, fewer than a dozen detainees had walked out of Venezuela’s prisons by Saturday morning, according to human rights groups and multiple sources familiar with the process.

According to some human rights groups, the total number of political prisoners in the South American country is close to 1,000.

Rodríguez vs. Cabello, round one

At the heart of the paralysis, sources say, is an open confrontation between interim President Delcy Rodríguez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, one of the regime’s most feared power brokers and a man Washington accuses of being a top leader of the so-called Cartel de los Soles drug trafficking network.

“The prisoner releases are the first battlefield in a much bigger war,” a senior Venezuelan military official told the Miami Herald. “Diosdado has thrown a monkey wrench into the process. He’s messing things up right now. There are other factors, but chief among them is him.”

Rodríguez, who assumed power after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a predawn raid last week, is attempting to execute a White House-backed plan to stabilize Venezuela and steer it toward a more U.S.-friendly political order — without provoking the regime’s radical base.

Cabello, by contrast, has little incentive to cooperate with Washington. Like Maduro, he faces U.S. drug trafficking charges and is the subject of a $25 million reward offered by the U.S. government for information leading to his capture. He also retains significant influence over Venezuela’s security forces and intelligence services.

According to multiple sources inside and outside Venezuela, Cabello has effectively halted the prisoner release process by blocking the execution of court orders authorizing their freedom — a move that underscores the depth of the internal rupture.

“This is much more serious than a political disagreement,” said Antonio De La Cruz, president of the Washington-based advisory firm Inter American Trends. “He is stopping legitimate judicial orders from being carried out. That tells you how raw this power struggle has become.”

De La Cruz said Cabello is using the stalled releases to send a direct message to Rodríguez.

“By halting the release, he is telling Delcy: ‘It’s with me that you have to negotiate, not Trump,’” De La Cruz said. “‘If you don’t, you’ll quickly discover you don’t actually have the power to make any of this happen.’”

De La Cruz added that Cabello is misreading political signals from Washington, mistakenly believing that recent limits imposed by the U.S. Senate on executive authority amount to protection for him.

“That’s false information, much of it coming from Cuban advisers,” De La Cruz said. “Congress limiting the president is about internal U.S. power struggles, not about shielding Diosdado Cabello. Trump is not going to protect him. He’s going to crush him.”

Trump celebrates — and pauses further attacks

The interim regime’s announcement that it would release a substantial number of prisoners was almost immediately embraced by Trump, who said Friday that he had decided to suspend a second wave of attacks similar to the operation that led to Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump described Venezuela’s release of detainees as a sign the country is “seeking peace,” calling it a “very important and smart gesture.” He said the cooperation had made a previously expected second wave of U.S. attacks unnecessary, though American ships would remain deployed “for safety and security purposes.”

Trump also said the burgeoning partnership between Caracas and Washington would soon lead to massive investments in the South American country’s energy sector.

“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,” Trump wrote.

He said at least $100 billion would be invested by major oil companies.

‘Not real freedom’

But events in Venezuela suggest that the emerging partnership is actually not working as well as the president says.

Human rights lawyer and activist Tamara Suju said the stalled releases reflect not only internal infighting but also how unprepared the regime was for the speed and scope of Washington’s demands.

“I think what’s happening caught them with their pants down, to be honest,” Suju said in an interview with Miami TV station EVTV, an outlet for Venezuela news. “Each of them inside the regime has their own quota of prisoners, which they treat like war trophies. Being forced to release them — as the Trump administration has demanded — is a slap in the face for them.”

Suju said political prisoners have long functioned as bargaining chips inside the regime, giving security officials leverage, protection and internal status. The sudden pressure to dismantle that system, she said, has intensified resistance from hardliners.

She warned, however, that even the limited releases carried out so far should not be mistaken for genuine freedom.

“The Trump government must demand the immediate freedom of all of them — all of them,” Suju said. “And not symbolic freedom, but real freedom. What they are doing now is not full release.”

Most detainees freed in recent days, she said, remain under restrictive judicial measures, including mandatory court appearances, bans on speaking publicly and open criminal cases — conditions that allow authorities to rearrest them at any time.

“They are still under coercive measures. They still have ongoing trials,” she said. “That means that at any moment they can be jailed again. This is not full freedom. It’s conditional freedom.”

Families wait

The standoff is playing out publicly as families of detainees hold vigils outside Venezuela’s most notorious prisons, including El Helicoide, the Caracas headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service. Human rights organizations say only 11 prisoners have been released so far — less than 1% of the total.

Meanwhile, the interim government has urged calm and unity while signaling tentative engagement with Washington, including exploratory diplomatic contacts and discussions about reopening embassies.

Behind the scenes, however, sources say panic is spreading within the armed forces, as commanders struggle to understand who is really in charge — and how far the United States is willing to go.

“The military operation that took Maduro changed everything,” one security source said. “Now everyone is calculating survival. And right now, the prisoners are caught in the middle.”

For families gathered outside Venezuela’s prisons, the past 48 hours have been defined by candles, prayers — and silence.

Dozens of relatives, friends and human rights activists have held vigils outside detention centers including El Helicoide in Caracas, Tocorón prison in Aragua state and the El Rodeo complex in Miranda, clinging to the interim government’s promise to release a “substantial number” of political prisoners. So far, that promise has barely materialized.

“They are waiting with great anxiety and hope for the release of their detainees,” Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of Foro Penal, which offers free legal assistance to political prisoners in Venezuela, told the Miami Herald.

Human rights groups say the result has been a small number of isolated releases carried out without transparency, leaving families in limbo.

“So far there have been very few releases. No one knows why this has taken so long,” Himiob said.

According to Foro Penal, some detainees should not have to deal with “major complications” for release, including a detained teenager, women, elderly prisoners, people with serious health conditions and foreign nationals whose governments are demanding their freedom.

A tearful vigil

Outside El Helicoide, relatives knelt on the pavement, prayed aloud and sang hymns late into the night. Several broke down in tears as hours passed with no news from prison authorities, who activists say refuse to confirm even whether specific detainees are being held inside.

“Everything has been like a drip, in hiding. It has been very hard, very cruel and revictimizing for families,” said Diego Armando Casanova, an activist with the Venezuelan Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners. “The process is too slow, exhausting, distressing.”

Casanova said the committee’s registry of political prisoners continues to grow, particularly since Thursday’s announcement, as relatives of previously undocumented detainees come forward seeking help.

“They ask us to advocate for them,” he said. “The list keeps increasing.”

As the standoff drags on, activists warn that the stalled releases are not merely bureaucratic delays but evidence of a deeper struggle over power — and over whether political repression will continue as state policy.

“We ask for immediate, full and unconditional release for all political prisoners,” Casanova said, and “that the repression in the country cease.”

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(A Miami Herald correspondent in Venezuela contributed to this report.)

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