Overview
- The family collective Comité de Madres en Defensa de la Verdad reported 87 excarcerations at Tocorón before dawn on January 1, describing them as limited because most remain under judicial controls and hundreds are still detained, according to NGOs.
- The new releases come after a Christmas round in which the government cited 99 freed, the family group reported 71, and Foro Penal verified about 61, with relatives noting the broader process had been stalled since March 2025.
- In a nationally broadcast year‑end address, Nicolás Maduro declared 2026 the Year of the Admirable Challenge, said the country is “secure and protected,” and pledged to strengthen technical and military capabilities toward what he called irreversible independence.
- From abroad, María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia said 2026 will consolidate freedom for Venezuela, reiterating their claim to a 2024 electoral mandate and signaling further political steps.
- Recent U.S. actions include sanctions on firms moving Venezuelan oil, identification of four tankers as blocked property, a Caribbean naval deployment, and strikes on suspected narcotics vessels that reports say have killed more than 115 people, even as Caracas denies holding political prisoners.