The president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, announced this Friday a general amnesty law to “repair the wounds” left by the political confrontation in the South American country, a measure that will benefit political prisoners detained from 1999 to the present, a period that covers the Chavismo governments.
At the beginning of the judicial year, at the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), Rodríguez commissioned the Judicial Revolution Commission and the Program for Coexistence and Peace to present the law to the National Assembly (AN, Parliament) – dominated by Chavismo – in the “next few hours,” as well as “maximum collaboration” to the legislative body for its approval.
“Let it be a law that serves to repair the wounds left by political confrontation, from violence, from extremism, that serves to redirect justice in our country and that serves to redirect coexistence among Venezuelans,” he added.
The Chavista leader indicated that this bill excludes those prosecuted or convicted of homicides, drug trafficking and human rights violations.
In addition, the official asked to convert El Helicoide, the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) in Caracas, designated as a center of “torture” by NGOs and opponents, into a social and sports center.
The proposal was announced weeks after US President Donald Trump, with whom Rodríguez’s government maintains rapprochements, spoke of the closure of a “torture chamber” in the Venezuelan capital.
El Helicoide, an unfinished structure from the 1950s that was originally conceived as a shopping center, later became the headquarters of Sebin and the Bolivarian National Police (PNB).
The place has been designated as a center of “torture” by opponents and human rights activists, while the UN Independent International Mission for Venezuela has documented cases of torture and abuse, a complaint that the Venezuelan Government has rejected.
María Corina Machado assures that the reason is the US
For her part, opposition leader María Corina Machado assured that the general amnesty law is “a product of real pressure” from the United States and said she hopes it becomes a reality.
“Obviously it is not something that the regime has voluntarily wanted to do, but rather it is a product of the real pressure it has received from the Government of the United States,” he said in the talk ‘Let’s talk about Venezuela’ with journalist Michael Stott at the Hay Festival in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
Machado, 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, said that in the oil country “the regime’s repressive apparatus is brutal” and “has responded to the interests of the multiple criminal forces that make up this regime.”
The opposition member assured that in Venezuela “there are political prisoners who have been in prison for 23 years,” as is the case of three metropolitan police officers, and there are others “who have been disappeared.” According to the NGO Foro Penal, there are 771 political prisoners in Venezuela.
The opposition celebrates the announcement
Likewise, opposition deputies celebrated the announcement of the amnesty law, while asking that the legislative text mark the definitive end of the “repression” and “persecution” in the country.
Deputy Henrique Capriles said in X that the amnesty is a “necessary and very important step” to advance the country that “the vast majority of Venezuelans” want.
In his opinion, the announcement of the law and the closure of El Helicoide touches the “conscience of the country and restores hope to thousands of Venezuelan families who have suffered injustice and persecution.”
Likewise, deputy Stalin González maintained that this legislative proposal opens a new page for “democratic coexistence in the country”, which is why he said he hopes it will be a broad measure that guarantees the freedom of all political prisoners and asked that “the physical closure” of the Helicoide “transcends to put an end to repression and persecution.”
Meanwhile, the NGO Provea pointed out that the political prisoners have been arbitrarily detained, which is why, it maintained, the State is not the one that “should forgive”, but rather that “those responsible for serious crimes” must “ask for forgiveness from the victims and society, and assume their responsibility before Justice for the abuses committed.”
Relatives of political prisoners in Venezuela told EFE this Friday that they feel “hopeful” after the announced proposal for an amnesty law.
We are “hopeful, we hope that – our relatives – can enjoy the benefits that are being given (…) we will continue in the fight until we can embrace our loved ones, who have also been victims of this terror,” Mariglys Guzmán, who was outside the PNB Zone 7 police cell, in the east of Caracas, told EFE.
Source: www.eldiario.es
