Rafael Tudares Bracho, who is married to Gonzalez’s daughter, was jailed just before former President Nicolás Maduro’s third inauguration.
Published January 22, 2026
The son-in-law of Venezuelan opposition leader and former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has been released from prison in the South American country.
The release of Rafael Tudares Bracho on Thursday comes as the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez is gradually reducing the number of political prisoners in Venezuela’s prisons.
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The move is widely seen as a concession to the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has continued to deploy military assets off the country’s coast and threatened Venezuelan officials if they did not comply with US demands.
Rodriguez was sworn into office on January 3, shortly after President Trump authorized the abduction of his predecessor, former President Nicolas Maduro. Members of the opposition coalition expressed joy at the news of Tudares Bracho’s release.
“After 380 days of unjust and arbitrary detention and more than a year of enduring the inhuman reality of enforced disappearance, my husband Rafael Tudares Bracho returned home this morning,” Mariana Gonzalez, Edmundo Gonzalez’s daughter, wrote on social media platform X.
“It was a stoic and very difficult battle.”
The elder Mr. Gonzalez ran against Mr. Maduro in the 2024 presidential election after opposition candidate María Colina Machado was barred from running. Election tallies released by the opposition and verified by independent observers showed Gonzalez won, despite Maduro’s claims of victory.
Tudares Bracho was arrested in January 2025, days before Maduro was inaugurated for a third term, after his wife faced a “sham” 12-hour trial on charges of “conspiracy, terrorism and criminal association.”
His release comes as families of Venezuelan prisoners hold vigils in prisons across the country, demanding the release of their loved ones.
Foro Penal, Venezuela’s main prisoners’ rights organization, confirmed the release of 145 people considered political prisoners, but at least another 775 remain in detention.
Edmundo Gonzalez, who has been in exile since the 2024 election, posted a video on social media praising his son-in-law’s freedom and calling for the release of other Venezuelans who remain unjustly detained.
“It would be a mistake to dismiss this incident as a personal story,” he says. “There are still men and women who remain deprived of their freedom for political reasons, without guarantees, due process, and often without truth.”
The Trump administration has so far avoided backing Venezuela’s leading opposition forces following Maduro’s abduction.
Instead, the United States has emphasized working with Rodriguez and other Maduro government officials to ensure stability while pursuing extraction from Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, has treaded a cautious path since his boss’s abduction, with an initially defiant attitude toward domestic audiences that gradually shifted to a more conciliatory message.
She and Trump had their first phone conversation last week, during which they also met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Shortly afterward, Mr. Rodriguez called on the government to further open up the national oil industry to foreign development, a key demand of Mr. Trump.
