The National Assembly of Venezuela has finally approved this Thursday an amnesty law with which hundreds of political prisoners could be released from prisons and persecuted politicians who are in hiding or in exile will be free from judicial cases. , after two weeks of consultations with various political and civil society sectors. “Hopefully that attitude and disposition that we have shown will be the auspices of a new political time that the country must go through,” celebrated the president of the Assembly and brother of the president, Jorge Rodríguez. The law has included a large part of the legal details that opposition deputies have negotiated to guarantee greater scope, but the military has been strictly excluded – 174 of some 600 political prisoners still imprisoned – who are accused of crimes of rebellion.
The document has been immediately sent to the Miraflores Palace for Delcy Rodríguez to sign and it will come into force when it appears in the official gazette. In addition, a parliamentary commission of 23 deputies will be in charge of monitoring the application of the amnesty and, in the case of the opposition, fighting for the review of cases that end up excluded.
The approved text limits the measure to 13 moments of political and social upheaval that occurred between 1999 and 2026. This list of conflictive milestones includes, for example, the entire period of action of the National Assembly between 2016 and 2021, when it was controlled by the opposition and Chavismo blocked its operation and opened investigations against dozens of opponents. The events that occurred within the framework of the call and election of candidates in the opposition primaries of 2023 have also been included. The demonstrations and violent events are contemplated within the framework of the elections held in July 2024, when Chavismo deployed harsh repression. Those who have been singled out for military rebellions will be excluded, however.
Those tried for so-called “hate crimes” such as, for example, writing a message critical of the Government in a WhatsApp status, have not been expressly amnestied. NGOs and families had pushed for the repeal of laws like this that have served repression, but this has not been considered. The head of Parliament assured that this law was “very useful,” and that it will be subject to reforms because, he recognized that, in some cases, it had not been used “appropriately.”
The deputies of the commission designated to draft the law were meeting from 11 in the morning to finish fine-tuning the adjustments before the plenary session scheduled for 4:00 p.m. (local time) and which began almost three hours later due to the intensity of the debate behind closed doors. The vice president of the group, opposition representative Nora Bracho, stated earlier that the objective was to approve by consensus, which has been achieved, but that “the law still had to overcome some obstacles.”
The expectation was that the law would go ahead last Thursday, but the parliamentary discussion stalled after the first six articles of the 16 that make up the text were approved. The disagreement focused on the wording of article 7, key to defining the spirit of the norm: Chavismo maintains that those who benefit from the pardon measure must first submit to justice – the same one that unjustly imprisoned them – a requirement that did not appear in the initial version and that aroused concern among NGOs.
The controversy highlighted opposing approaches to the scope of the law: for Chavismo it is about forgiving crimes, while defenders and relatives of political prisoners insist that the objective is to strip acts that should never have been considered as such of their criminal nature. That is why they demand that the process include reparation measures for victims of arbitrary detentions, torture and persecution, as well as guarantees of non-repetition, still pending.
In a new modification of that article approved this Thursday, it has been incorporated that those who, exceptionally, cannot appear before the courts because they are outside the country, have the representation of a lawyer they trust. It also establishes that no one can be detained after having requested the measure. “This law is not perfect, but our interest is that political persecution stops,” said Nora Bracho. “After arduous debate, this article has great achievements,” he said.
Among the changes negotiated in recent weeks in favor of the prisoners was the possibility for those granted amnesty to join public life, which in some way can restore the political rights of a good part of persecuted opponents or those who are in exile. It was also agreed to explicitly incorporate the legal principle of favoring the accused in the event of any doubt in the application of the law. This aspect is seen as a “slip” of hope among defenders, because all the cases that have fallen outside the specified periods could enter here.
Other modifications incorporated a period of only 15 days for the courts to review and grant amnesty measures. In addition, a parliamentary commission will be created that will verify implementation and may recommend expedited amnesty measures for cases that have not been considered.
The negotiations have occurred while dozens of prisoners’ families have held protest vigils in front of prisons across the country. After the release of 444 people in the last month and a half, it is estimated that there are still at least 600 prisoners locked up for political reasons pending release.
The amnesty law was announced by Delcy Rodríguez on January 29, in the middle of the release process. The matter quickly became urgent, although its approval has not been as express as expected. The reason is that in this new stage without Maduro, Chavismo has sought unanimous support for the initiative, despite not needing it thanks to its overwhelming majority. After the hydrocarbons law, which opened the oil industry to the private sector, the amnesty is the second law approved with the support of a minority of moderate opponents who coexist with Chavismo in the Assembly, a space in which the leader with the greatest popular support, María Corina Machado, is not represented.
The pressure for the release of political prisoners has been led this week by families who gather at the police headquarters known as Zone 7, in Caracas. At least 40 people are still detained in that prison, of which a woman was still being held this Thursday. The protest transcends the symbolic, since this was the place chosen by the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, after the first discussion of the law. He promised approval express which has been delayed due to lack of consensus and also said that everyone would be released. Demands from family members have been directed against him in recent days, demanding that he keep his word.
The content of the amnesty law will exclude several cases not contemplated in the facts to which forgiveness is restricted. Given the frustration that the text can cause, Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the NGO Foro Penal, has written in his The amnesty, he assured, is only a legal formula to achieve freedom. “It is a very important step, but not the last.” Total freedom, he stated, “will come when the apparatus and culture of political repression are dismantled.”
