Venezuela\u2019s acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez has announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons<\/b>
\nVenezuela\u2019s acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons.
The measure had long been sought by the United States-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodr\u00edguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in a U.S. military attack in Venezuela\u2019s capital, Caracas.
Rodr\u00edguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency.
\u201cMay this law serve to heal the wounds left by the political confrontation fueled by violence and extremism,\u201d she added in the pretaped televised event. \u201cMay it serve to redirect justice in our country, and may it serve to redirect coexistence among Venezuelans.\u201d
Rodr\u00edguez also announced the shutdown of Helicoide, a prison in Caracas where torture and other human rights abuses have been repeatedly documented by independent organizations. The facility, she said, will be transformed into a sports, social and cultural center for police and surrounding neighborhoods.
Rodr\u00edguez made her announcement before some of the officials that former prisoners and human rights watchdogs have accused of ordering the abuses committed at Helicoide and other detention facilities.
Relatives of some prisoners livestreamed Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s speech on a phone as they gathered outside Helicoide. Some cried. Many chanted \u201cFreedom! Freedom!\u201d
\u201cGod is good. God heard us,\u201d Johana Chirinos, a prisoner\u2019s aunt, said as tears rolled down her face.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mar\u00eda Corina Machado in a statement said the announced actions were not taken \u201cvoluntarily, but rather in response to pressure from the US government.\u201d She also noted that people have been detained for their political activities from anywhere between a month and 23 years.
\u201cThe regime\u2019s repressive apparatus is brutal and has responded to the numerous criminal forces that answer to this regime, and it is all that remains,\u201d Machado said. \u201cWhen repression disappears and fear is lost, it will be the end of tyranny.\u201d
The Venezuelan-based prisoners\u2019 rights group Foro Penal estimates that 711 people are in detention facilities across the South American country for their political activities. Of those, 183 have been sentenced.
Among the prominent members of the political opposition who were detained after the 2024 presidential election and remain in prison are former lawmaker Freddy Superlano, Machado’s lawyer Perkins Rocha, as well as Juan Pablo Guanipa, a former governor and one of Machado\u2019s closest allies.
The government did not release the text of the bill on Friday, leaving unclear the specific criteria that will be used to determine who qualifies for amnesty.
Rodr\u00edguez said the \u201cgeneral amnesty law\u201d will cover the \u201centire period of political violence from 1999 to the present.\u201d She also explained that people convicted of murder, drug trafficking, corruption or human rights violations will not qualify for relief.
Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s government earlier this month announced plans to release a significant number of prisoners in a goodwill gesture, but relatives of those detained have condemned the slow pace of the releases.
\u201cA general amnesty is welcome as long as its elements and conditions include all of civil society, without discrimination, that it does not become a cloak of impunity, and that it contributes to dismantling the repressive apparatus of political persecution,\u201d Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, said on social media.
The organization has tallied 302 releases since the Jan. 8 announcement.
The human rights group Provea in a statement called out the lack of transparency and \u201ctrickle\u201d pace of prisoner releases. It also underscored that while the freeing of those still detained \u201cis urgent, the announcement of an amnesty should not be conceived, under any circumstances, as a pardon or act of clemency on the part of the State.\u201d
\u201cWe recall that these people were arbitrarily imprisoned for exercising rights protected by international human rights instruments, the National Constitution, and Venezuelan laws,\u201d the organization said.
The U.S. Department of State on Friday confirmed that all U.S. citizens known to have been held in Venezuelan prisons had been released. It also announced that Laura Dogu, who will serve as its top diplomat in Venezuela, will arrive Saturday in the capital.
Outside another detention facility in Caracas, Edward Ocariz, who was detained for more than five months after the 2024 election, joined prisoners‘ relatives in demanding their loved ones‘ swift release.
\u201cWe, Venezuelans, have all endured so much, all unjust, merciless and trampling on our dignity. No one deserves this,\u201d Ocariz said. \u201cAnd today, the guilty continue to govern Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n