Venezuelan authorities have released several political prisoners, according to human rights organizations, just days after the country's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, met with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York. Among those freed early on Saturday was Wilder Vasquez, who had been sentenced to five years in 2018 for alleged plotting to kill former President Nicolás Maduro. The release comes amid renewed calls from opposition figures for free elections, following Rodriguez's meeting with Trump at the UN General Assembly earlier in the week. This meeting occurred after Trump had previously supported the removal of Maduro, who was arrested earlier this year. Rodriguez's administration had previously released hundreds of political prisoners as part of a reconciliation effort after Maduro's removal. However, these releases slowed significantly in April when Rodriguez indicated the program was "coming to an end." The Venezuelan government has not officially commented on the latest releases, nor has it stated whether they were influenced by her talks with Trump. Gonzalo Himiob, vice-president of the rights group Foro Penal, confirmed that a significant number of political prisoners were released from several detention centers on Saturday. Among them was Miguel Castillo Cedeño, who had been arbitrarily detained since June 2019, and Frank Cabañas, who had been held for nine years after being linked to the death of a police officer. Foro Penal noted that Cabañas was the only suspect still detained, despite reports from his family of health issues last year. Opposition and human rights groups have long accused Maduro's government of using political imprisonment to suppress dissent and silence critics. Rodriguez has positioned her interim government as more open to political opposition, while also seeking to gain favor with the U.S. The prisoner release program was a key concession by her administration to the U.S., though her decision to end it drew criticism from both opposition and rights groups. Foro Penal stated that less than half of the country's political prisoners had been released when the program was halted. Rodriguez's government continues to deny that dissidents are jailed, instead framing the releases as gestures of goodwill and reconciliation. Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a close associate of Maduro, praised Rodriguez's meeting with Trump as "a great triumph of the diplomacy of peace." However, opposition voices criticized the meeting, viewing it as a snub to their calls for swift elections, which the U.S. had previously endorsed. Pedro Mario Burelli, a former Venezuelan state oil company executive and opposition commentator, criticized Trump and Rodriguez as "the shameless puppet and her unscrupulous and undignified puppet-master," adding that "Little has changed in Venezuela under Washington's clumsy and selective oversight." Venezuela's last elections, held in 2024, were widely disputed, with opposition tallies suggesting their candidate had won by 70%. Despite this, the Trump administration supported Rodriguez, Maduro's former vice-president, over opposition leader María Corina Machado after Maduro was arrested on drug charges. Analysts at the time saw this as a U.S. decision to prioritize short-term stability in Venezuela until elections could be held. Rodriguez reiterated in her UN speech that "there will be elections in Venezuela," though she did not specify when.