The former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the current president in Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Qatar have played a fundamental role in getting Chavismo to release . His mediation work has been recognized by Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Assembly and until a few days ago main advisor to Nicolás Maduro, who was in charge of making the announcement this Thursday. Behind this work there are years of secret conversations at the highest level and with the families, which they have tried to maintain with the hope that at some point they would be released.
The measure of grace comes in a totally different political context than just five days ago, when Maduro was in power. Jorge’s sister, who in these first days is showing signs of openness, like this one. has assured that the country is in a stabilization process, which will be followed later by a transition, which can be interpreted as a call for elections. Jorge Rodríguez wanted to make it clear that the release of prisoners has not been an imposition from Washington by ensuring that it was “a unilateral gesture to strengthen peace.”
Zapatero began to have a presence in Venezuelan politics in 2015, when the opposition invited him to carry out mediation work with Chavismo. The socialist came to such a delicate matter with the baggage of having achieved the dismantling of ETA, the terrorist group. His main commitment throughout this time, according to those around him, has been that of political prisoners. The former president accepts that this means public wear and tear that he is willing to assume. The people around him have also been targets of attacks.
The Spanish political right has been especially belligerent with its role. He has accused him of sympathizing with the regime. Zapatero believes that it is the price to pay for showing himself as a neutral actor who can negotiate from both sides. His obsession during this time has been to ensure that Chavismo did not remain isolated and lead to a cloistered regime, almost without contact with the outside world, like Cuba or Nicaragua. He also believed that one wrong step could lead to civil war.
The former president has also been highly criticized by . Their positions are found. She believes in exerting economic and political pressure against Chavismo. In fact, Donald Trump’s involvement to this point has been his endeavor through his friend Marco Rubio. Zapatero is of the theory that it is better to build a new political reality through dialogue. In conversations with other international leaders, he has often spoken of a transition period in which actors open to dialogue would play a role.
Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez listen to him. According to a minister who worked with him in his government, he has spent hours and hours in the Miraflores Palace, the Venezuelan presidential residence, meeting with Maduro and his advisors to try to free prisoners. The families of those imprisoned know that they can count on him and write to him all the time, including those of politicians very close to María Corina Machado who have been detained. Zapatero also played an important role in conceding the candidate who everything indicates won the last presidential elections to Maduro.
The presidents of Colombia and Brazil spoke by telephone this Thursday afternoon about the complex situation in Venezuela and “applauded the announcement (…) of the release of national and foreign prisoners,” according to the note released by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. Petro and Lula also share “the enormous concern about the use of force against a South American country,” they emphasize that “it is an extremely dangerous precedent” and demand that the Venezuelan crisis be resolved exclusively by peaceful means, negotiation and with respect for the will of the Venezuelan people.
The president of Brazil has been “systematically demanding in public and private” from Chavismo the release of political prisoners starting from the negotiations that followed the 2024 presidential elections, a Brazilian diplomatic source recalled this Thursday. But the express gratitude of the president of the Venezuelan Parliament to the Brazilian president is possibly related to another element that was raised in that dialogue: Brazil’s offer to welcome into its territory those released from prison who “eventually decided not to stay in the country.” [Venezuela]”.
Lula spoke with Maduro in December – first contact after a period of low relations – and had a brief conversation with the now interim president on the same Saturday, when the Chavista leader was already in US hands, but his whereabouts were still unknown. The foreign ministers of both countries, Brazilian diplomat Mauro Vieira and Yván Gil, have also spoken since then. Vieira and President Rodríguez know each other well from the time they coincided at the head of the Foreign Ministry in their respective countries.
The Brazilian tried last year, together with the Colombian Gustavo Petro, to get Chavismo and the opposition to sit at the same table to begin a transition process after the elections, according to Colombian sources. One of the ways, as proposed by the Colombian delegation, was for Maduro to leave with an amnesty, an offer that the Trump Administration would also later make to Hugo Chávez’s successor. Petro and Lula asked that the opposition interlocutor be Edmundo González instead of Machado, which generated a great stir and led to the presidents being accused of favoring Chavismo.
Along with Zapatero and Lula, Jorge Rodríguez has also mentioned Qatar. The Arab State has been offering to mediate between Chavismo, the opposition and the United States for years. In June 2023, EL PAÍS revealed that Jorge Rodríguez met with Juan González, advisor to Joe Biden. At that meeting, the foundations were laid to organize the presidential elections that would come later and that should be a way to democratize the country through the polls. If Maduro won, he could demonstrate to the world that he was a legitimate president who could go to multilateral organizations without being separated. Otherwise, Machado would take power.
That did not happen and the situation worsened. It has culminated in the capture of Maduro in Caracas by US special forces who killed the entire presidential guard before taking him away and presenting him before a court in New York. What the new Venezuela will be like has yet to be finalized, but there are signs of change, such as this release of prisoners. Zapatero, Lula and Qatar have played a leading role in this.
