This Friday, Venezuela released 17 Colombian prisoners who had been detained after last year’s presidential elections, as confirmed by the Government of Gustavo Petro in a statement. He did so in the border state of Táchira, where the Colombian Foreign Minister, Rosa Villavicencio, traveled to receive them. Bogotá has emphasized that it will “maintain dialogue” with the Nicolás Maduro Administration to release the other Colombians who are still detained – it is estimated that there are about 20 more. “The protection of Colombians abroad is a priority of the Government,” the chancellor stressed.
The Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Milton Rengifo, anticipated the announcement during an interview on the public channel Signal Colombia. Minutes before the release, he read a list with the names of those released. “David Josué Misse Durán, Edwin Iván Colmenares García, Kevin José Saavedra Basallo…”, he listed from the Simón Bolívar Bridge, which crosses the Táchira River and is the main route between the two countries. Unlike the Ministry, it gave the figure of 18 released. He explained that a woman, Nally Zuleima Sánchez in Caracas, was released in Caracas on Thursday. According to Rengifo, President Gustavo Petro’s confidant, the release is a milestone that allows “regaining trust.”
Dozens of relatives are still waiting for the release of those who remain detained. “Unfortunately my brother is not on the list,” comments Diana Tique, sister of Manuel Tique, a worker from the Danish Refugee Council detained in Venezuela in September, via audio. “But it is a great step for at least 17 families to have relief from this whole situation,” he adds. Ambassador Rengifo emphasized in his interview that next week they will resume “the analysis of the files, case by case.” “We hope that before December we can have a second group released, here in our country,” he said.
Around 35 men and three women of Colombian nationality were detained in Venezuela after the July 2025 elections, in which the opposition denounced fraud and Maduro declared himself the winner without showing the results of the vote. For several months, diplomatic progress was non-existent. Although Colombia insistently requested information on the legal situation of the detainees and procedural guarantees, it received no response from the Maduro regime. Consular authorities could not visit the inmates, most of whom were in the El Rodeo prison, on the outskirts of Caracas.
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