Shumita Basu

Ian Lovett is a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

He told us Rodriguez released hundreds of political prisoners, which Trump called an important and smart gesture toward peace, and has pledged general amnesty for others, though the specifics of that still need to be passed into law.

Lovett reports that in conversations with officials and opposition leaders, the sense is that Rodriguez may be acquiescing to some things the United States wants in order to shore up her position and stay in power.

That means saying yes to certain things like economic concessions, particularly on oil, and perhaps saving more resistance for broader political change.

This strategy of offering small concessions but effectively waiting out the attention span of the administration has seemed to pay off so far.

Just a couple of weeks ago, when Trump spoke with Rodriguez, he had a lot of praise for her.

That's not good news for Venezuela's primary opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, who recently gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump.

She maintains that a transition to democracy is unstoppable.

And other analysts Lovett spoke with agreed that resisting democratic reform may not work out for Rodriguez.

And finally, a few other stories we're following.

The two brothers of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman fatally shot by a federal immigration officer last month, testified on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Luke and Brent Ganger spoke to lawmakers at a congressional forum that's looking into the tactics and use of force by DHS agents.

Luke said his family is disheartened that immigration officials haven't seemed to change their behavior since his sister's death.

Brent shared parts of the eulogy he delivered at Good's funeral, painting a fuller portrait of who his sister was.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat who organized the forum, emphasized the need for a complete overhaul of DHS and a revamping of immigration enforcement policies.

Elsewhere in the Capitol, lawmakers agreed to end the partial government shutdown.

The House passed a $1 trillion spending package that funds most government agencies through September, and President Trump signed the bill yesterday afternoon.

The package includes stopgap funding for the Department of Homeland Security through next week, and the clock is now ticking for lawmakers to find a way to fund it longer term.

Democrats have 10 days to negotiate their demands, things like a ban on agents wearing masks, names on uniforms, and judicial warrants for planned actions.

DHS already received a massive funding boost through last year's tax and spending bill, so immigration operations are likely to continue as is.