Myanmar's military government releases more than 6,100 prisoners on independence anniversary

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government granted amnesty to more than 6,100 prisoners and reduced other inmates’ sentences Sunday to mark the 78th anniversary of the country's independence from Britain.

It was not immediately clear whether those released include the thousands of political detainees imprisoned for opposing military rule.

The amnesty comes as the military government proceeds with a monthlong, three-stage election process that critics say is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to the status quo.

State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, pardoned 6,134 prisoners.

A separate statement said 52 foreigners will also be released and deported from Myanmar. No comprehensive list of those freed is available.

​​Other prisoners received reduced sentences, except for those convicted of serious charges such as murder and rape or those jailed on charges under various other security acts.

The release terms warn that if the freed detainees violate the law again, they will have to serve the remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence.

The prisoner releases, common on holidays and other significant occasions in Myanmar, began Sunday and are expected to take several days to complete.

Buses took prisoners out of Yangon’s Insein Prison after 11 a.m., where friends and families of detainees had waited since morning for the announced releases.

Among the first group freed from Insein Prison, according to the pro-army news outlet Popular News Journal, was Ye Htut, a former high-profile army officer who had served as information minister and presidential spokesperson in a previous military-backed government.

He was arrested in October 2023 and sentenced to 10 years in prison the following month after being convicted of sedition and incitement for writing Facebook posts that allegedly spread false or inflammatory news.

However, there was no sign that the prisoner release would include former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in the military takeover in 2021 and has been held virtually incommunicado since then.

The takeover was met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread armed struggle.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organization that keeps detailed tallies of arrests and casualties linked to the nation’s political conflicts, more than 22,000 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, were in detention as of last Tuesday.

Many political detainees had been held on a charge of incitement, a catch-all offense widely used to arrest critics of the government or military and punishable by up to three years in prison.

The 80-year-old Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted in what supporters have called politically tinged prosecutions.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement Sunday called for the military to cease violence, allow unhindered humanitarian access, release those unjustly detained and engage in dialogue to pursue a peaceful and long-term end to the crisis.

Myanmar became a British colony in the late 19th century and regained its independence on Jan. 4, 1948.

The anniversary was marked in the capital, Naypyitaw, with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall on Sunday.

Family members and colleagues holding nameplates wait to welcome the released prisoners from Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners, in a bus, are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they left Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners, in a bus, are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they left Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners, in a bus, are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they left Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

A released prisoner, right, is welcomed by her colleague after she was released from Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

High-ranking soldiers shout commands during a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of its Independence Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Family members and colleagues wait to welcome the released prisoners from Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Family members and colleagues wait to welcome the released prisoners from Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Polices set up a barricade while family members and colleagues wait to welcome the released prisoners from Insein Prison Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

A commander of an honor guard shouts during a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of its Independence Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Myanmar Prime Minister Nyo Saw arrives to attend a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of its Independence Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Myanmar's government officials salute at their national flag during a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of its Independence Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Members of an honor guard leave after a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of its Independence Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela will pose a fresh test of his ability to hold together a restive Republican coalition during a challenging election year that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.

While most Republicans lined up behind the president in the immediate aftermath of the stunning U.S. mission to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and bring him to New York to face criminal charges, there were signs of unease across the spectrum within the party. In particular, Trump's comments about the U.S. positioning itself to “run” Venezuela have raised concerns that he is abandoning the “America First” philosophy that has long distinguished him from more traditional Republicans and helped fuel his political rise.

“This is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesn't serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a former Trump ally who is resigning on Monday, in an interview with NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Those concerns were shared by some who are not associated with the party's far-right flank.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a moderate who is one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the November midterms, said in a statement that “the only country that the United States of America should be ‘running’ is the United States of America.”

Those comments reflect the sensitive dynamics between Trump and his fellow Republicans at the outset of an election year in which their party risks losing control of Congress. While the president's dominance remains undisputed, the ironclad grip that he has held over the party has faced unusual challenges in recent months. Blocs of Republicans have banded together to pressure Trump to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Others have been vocal in encouraging Trump to take concerns about affordability more seriously.

Few issues are as central to Trump's political brand as ensuring that the U.S. does not get entangled in seemingly endless foreign conflicts at the expense of domestic goals. During a 2016 Republican presidential debate, for instance, he described the war in Iraq as a “big, fat mistake."

But on Saturday, Trump said he was “not afraid of boots on the ground” in Venezuela if that was deemed necessary, and he framed his actions as prioritizing the safety and security of Americans. He articulated an aggressive vision of U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and he told reporters it was important to “surround ourselves with good neighbors."

However, much like the Iraq War, a president's early confidence after a dramatic military action can sometimes meet more sobering realities that drain domestic political support.

In Venezuela, U.S. troops could be placed in harm's way again as Trump warns that more military operations may be in the works. An ongoing conflict could worsen the hemisphere's refugee crisis, something the White House has tried to tamp down with stricter border controls. In addition, there are questions about how much cooperation the U.S. will receive from officials still in Venezuela or how easily the country's oil reserves could be tapped to fulfill Trump's goal of extracting more energy with Maduro out of the picture.

Trump's comments this weekend about revitalizing the oil industry in Venezuela are in line with some of the earliest critiques he made of the handling of the Iraq War. During a 2013 speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said the U.S. should “take” oil from Iraq and “pay ourselves back.”

Frustration with the handling of the Iraq War contributed to major gains for Democrats in the 2006 election and helped create the conditions for Barack Obama to be elected to the presidency two years later. Given the baggage surrounding those wars, Trump allies insist that the actions this weekend in Venezuela are different.

“Venezuela looks nothing like Libya,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on “Meet the Press. “It looks nothing like Iraq. It looks nothing like Afghanistan. It looks nothing like the Middle East other than the Iranian agents that are running through there plotting against America, okay?”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton argued that the 1989 ouster of Manuel Noriega in Panama is a better comparison.

“That was a successful operation,” Cotton said on CNN's “State of the Union.” “I believe, in the long run, this will be too.”

Still, amid some of the pushback about the U.S. taking expansive responsibility for managing Venezuela, Rubio suggested a more limited role. He said that Washington would not handle day-to-day governance of the South American country other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on Venezuela.

It is not clear that any forceful, organized opposition to Trump's Venezuela policy is emerging within the GOP. Instead, many lawmakers appear to be giving the Republican administration some room and, at most, offer some warnings.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who faces a potentially challenging reelection campaign this year, called Maduro a “narco-terrorist and international drug trafficker” who should stand trial even, as she said “Congress should have been informed about the operation earlier and needs to be involved as this situation evolves.”

Even Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who often criticizes military interventions, did not specifically oppose Trump's actions. He wrote on social media that “time will tell if regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant monetary or human cost.”

Many Democrats denounced Trump's actions in Venezuela and the Democratic National Committee quickly sought to raise money by blasting “another unconstitutional war from Trump.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., rejected the administration's argument that it was combating drug crimes, saying on X that the White House is instead focused on “oil and regime change” while seeking to “to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs.” Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the strike was part of an “old and obvious pattern” where an “unpopular president — failing on the economy and losing his grip on power at home — decides to launch a war for regime change abroad.”

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump listens to a question during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Secretary of State Marco Rubio watches. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)