The adoption of the amnesty law in Venezuela provoked a reaction from Spain, which is asking the EU for a concession against Rodriguez. The opposition warns that the new law may only favor government supporters and leave political prisoners in the fray.
Spain will ask the European Union to lift sanctions imposed on Venezuela’s interim president, Delca Rodriguez, in response to the approval of an amnesty law in Caracas, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
- Spain asks the EU to lift the sanctions against Delca Rodriguez.
- The impetus is the approval of the law on amnesties in Venezuela.
- The EU banned Rodriguez from entering for human rights violations.
- Amnesty does not apply to those who instigated military operations.
- Critics fear misuse of the law to protect those close to the government.
The amnesty law was adopted by the country’s new leadership after US forces captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife last month and took them to the United States.
Ban on entering the EU
The European Union imposed sanctions on Venezuela back in 2018, and they also apply to Rodriguez, as a result of which, for example, she is not allowed to enter the territory of the EU. The union says Rodriguez bears some responsibility for irregularities in the 2018 election, human rights abuses and undermining “democracy and the rule of law” in the former Spanish colony.
“Sanctions are never an end, they are a means to an end, so that there can be an extensive peace and democratic dialogue in Venezuela,” Albares told reporters in Barcelona. “The European Union must send a signal that we are going in the right direction at this stage,” he stated, praising the adoption of amnesties. The minister clarified that Maduro was never subject to sanctions, given that such punishments “always omit presidents and foreign ministers.”
Controversial amnesty
The amnesty, which was unanimously approved by the Venezuelan parliament on Thursday, does not apply to persons prosecuted or convicted of inciting military operations against the country. That could exclude opposition leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has fought against the regime. Critics also fear that the government could use the law to pardon persons from its own ranks and selectively deny freedom to true prisoners of conscience, writes AFP.
