CARACAS, Jan 2, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuela Thursday announced the release of 88 people jailed for protesting President Nicolas Maduro's claim to have won July 2024 elections.

Maduro claimed to have won a third six-year term even though the opposition published results it said showed a convincing victory for their candidate. Mass demonstrations erupted.

Twenty-eight people were killed in the unrest and around 2,400 people, including dozens of minors, were arrested as the authorities cracked down.

Over 2,000 people have since been released, according to official records.

The prisons ministry said Thursday that 88 more, who were detained "for crimes committed during violent actions by extremist groups," had been released.

Two rights groups -- the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners and the Committee of Mothers in Defense of the Truth -- had earlier reported the release of at least 87 prisoners.

This is the second such gesture in a week by the embattled Maduro administration, which is in US President Donald Trump's crosshairs.

On December 25, the government announced the release of 99 prisoners as "a concrete expression of the State's commitment to peace, dialogue and justice."

Maduro has been eager to show a more conciliatory side recently, faced with the threat of military action from the Trump administration.

Trump accuses Maduro of backing drug trafficking, terrorism and other crimes.

Since August, he has ramped up pressure on Caracas, ordering a huge naval deployment in the Caribbean, greenlighting a barrage of strikes on suspected Latin American drugs boats, seizing tankers containing Venezuelan oil, and ordering an informal closure of Venezuelan airspace.

Trump this week also announced that US forces had carried out strikes on a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats, in the first apparent land strike of the military campaign.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro claimed that the strikes targeted a suspected cocaine-making factory in the port city of Maracaibo.

Venezuela accuses the United States of trying to oust the leftist Maduro in order to get its hands on the country's oil wealth.

Trump said last week it would be a "smart" move by Maduro to step down.