Former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez and politician and collaborator of María Corina Machado, Biagio Pilieri, were released this Thursday night, according to information from the National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela (SNTP).
The release comes after the president of the National Assembly (AN, Parliament), Jorge Rodríguez, announced the release of "a significant number" of people.
In a video posted on X by the guild, both leaders can be seen hugging their relatives in an area in eastern Caracas.
Both were being held in El Helicoide, the Caracas headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin).
During a press appearance from the Parliament, Rodríguez stated that these releases are a "unilateral gesture" by the Venezuelan government, which is now led by his sister, the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez.
These are the first confirmed releases of Venezuelans during the day and add to those of five Spanish citizens, including the Venezuelan-Spanish Rocío San Miguel, the latter announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, José Manuel Albares.
Image spread on the account @sntpvenezuela of the National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela of the Venezuelan leader Biagio Pilieri after his release this Thursday, in Caracas (Venezuela). EFE/ @sntpvenezuela
Márquez was arrested on January 7, 2025, after participating in the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, and questioning the victory attributed to Nicolás Maduro by the National Electoral Council (CNE), controlled by rectors aligned with chavism, which did not publish the detailed results of the contest, as required by its own schedule.
After the arrest, the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, affirmed that the former candidate would have proposed holding an investiture ceremony for the candidate of the main opposition, Edmundo González Urrutia, in a Venezuelan embassy abroad.
Activists and political leaders had demanded the release of Márquez, including the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who has referred to the opposition leader as his friend.
For his part, Pilieri was persecuted and arrested on August 28, 2024, after participating in a demonstration against the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which validated the controversial re-election of Maduro.
The coordinator of the opposition party Convergence and former deputy, who was also mayor of the Bruzual municipality in Yaracuy state (north), was pointed out, along with leader Freddy Superlano and Machado collaborator Perkins Rocha, for disseminating the electoral records made by the main opposition with the objective of proving the victory they claim for their candidate, González Urrutia.
