Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez 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 US-backed opposition.
It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
Photo: Efrain Gonzalez, AFP, Venezuelan Presidency
Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency.
Rodriguez 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 would be transformed into a sports, social and cultural center for police and surrounding neighborhoods, she said.
The Venezuelan-based prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal estimated that 711 people are in detention facilities across the South American country for their political activities. Of those, 183 have been sentenced.
The government did not release the text of the bill, leaving unclear the specific criteria that would be used to determine who qualifies for amnesty.
The “general amnesty law” would cover the “entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present,” Rodriguez said, adding that people convicted of murder, drug trafficking, corruption or human rights violations would not qualify for relief.
Rodriguez’s 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.
“A 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,” Foro Penal president Alfredo Romero said.
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 “trickle” pace of prisoner releases.
While the freeing of those still detained “is 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,” it said.
“We recall that these people were arbitrarily imprisoned for exercising rights protected by international human rights instruments, the National Constitution and Venezuelan laws,” Provea said.
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.
“We, Venezuelans, have all endured so much, all unjust, merciless and trampling on our dignity. No one deserves this,” Ocariz said. “And today, the guilty continue to govern Venezuela.”
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS