“Neither the Venezuelan people nor international community will be fooled by these token & transparent acts,” tweeted Michael Kozak, the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Western Hemisphere division at the US State Department.

“Democracy can only prevail when all conditions for free and fair elections are met,” he said.

Venezuela’s announcement of the pardons on Monday came a day after Maduro claimed to be supporting measures to bring “reconciliation” and “dialogue” to the deeply polarised South American country ahead of December legislative elections.

Kozak emphasised: “Let’s not forget that Maduro continues to arbitrarily detain 100’s of political prisoners.”

Guaido and leading opposition figures have already vowed to boycott those polls over a lack of transparency.

In January 2019, National Assembly speaker Guaido challenged Maduro’s authority by declaring himself acting president, quickly receiving the backing of more than 50 countries including the US.

US President Donald Trump has been a staunch Guaido ally, and has increased pressure on the leftist Maduro regime with a series of sanctions.

Washington has also accused Maduro of “narcoterrorism” and placed a US$15 million bounty on his head.

Kozak wrote on Twitter that for there to be fair elections in Venezuela, Maduro must meet a series of benchmarks that include respect for free speech, an end to censorship, the release of all political prisoners, and independent monitoring of the vote.