On Monday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil Pinto submitted, before the United Nations Human Rights Council, a request for the “immediate” release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, stressing at the same time the opening of a “diplomatic channel” with the United States to resolve disputes between the two countries. This came after the United States arrested Maduro on January 3, 2026, while Delcy Rodriguez has assumed the interim presidency of the country since then.
Published on: 02/23/2026 - 18:27 Last updated: 02/23/2026 - 18:27
On Monday, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister submitted a request to the United Nations for the “immediate” release of ousted President Nicolas Maduro after he was arrested by the United States on January 3, stressing the opening of a “diplomatic channel” with Washington.
Iván Gil Pinto told the United Nations Human Rights Council that Venezuela demands "that the United States government immediately release Nicolas Maduro Moros, the constitutional president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and his wife, First Lady Celia Flores."
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister stressed that “January 3, 2026 represented an extremely dangerous turning point, as an illegal military action against our country resulted in the death of more than a hundred people and the arbitrary arrest” of Maduro and his wife.
Maduro ruled Venezuela with an iron fist between March 2013 and January 2026. Delcy Rodriguez, who has served as vice president since 2018, currently holds the country's interim presidency.
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On January 5, two days after his arrest, Maduro appeared before the American judiciary for the first time, pleading not guilty to drug smuggling charges and declaring that he was a “prisoner of war.”
Gill said, "Despite this work, which was carried out in light of the great technological and military disparity between our country and the nuclear power of the United States, we chose to open a diplomatic channel to resolve our differences with this country."
He added, "Not through submission, but through sovereign equality between countries. Not through fear, but out of conviction that dialogue is the only civilized path between nations."
He pointed out that Venezuela chose a “path” that is the path of “peace and sovereignty,” the path of “dialogue without abandoning our principles,” the path of “internal reconciliation without abandoning justice,” and the path of “international cooperation based on legal equality between countries.”
He added, "Today we seek a process of acknowledgment of past wounds, forgiveness, and reconciliation," referring to the recently approved amnesty law.
This law was issued under American pressure on Thursday, but it was criticized for excluding some members of the army and police, and not covering the entire period that followed the arrival of Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, to power in 1999.
France 24/AFP
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