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Venezuela’s interim authorities have approved amnesty for 379 political prisoners, a step that opposition figures and rights advocates say falls short of addressing the thousands detained under the ousted government of Nicolas Maduro.
Jorge Arreaza, the National Assembly deputy overseeing the amnesty process, said in a televised interview Friday that the individuals covered by the measure “must be released, granted amnesty, between tonight and tomorrow morning.” He said prosecutors had submitted requests to courts to formalize the releases.
The amnesty law was passed unanimously by the National Assembly on Thursday, a day before Arreaza’s announcement.
It followed weeks of uncertainty for families who have gathered outside prisons across the country hoping for word that their relatives would be freed.
Hundreds of detainees have already been granted conditional release since Delcy Rodriguez assumed the interim presidency following a U.S. military operation last month that resulted in Maduro’s detention. He was taken to New York and now faces drug trafficking and related charges in American courts.
Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president, took office with the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has since asserted control over Venezuela’s oil sales and pledged to claim a share of the profits for Washington.
The amnesty law has drawn criticism from opposition leaders and human rights organizations over its scope. It explicitly excludes individuals prosecuted for “promoting” or “facilitating… armed or forceful actions” against Venezuela’s sovereignty by foreign actors — language that has been used to target political opponents of the previous government.
Rodriguez has leveled such accusations against opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who remains in the United States and has expressed hopes of returning to Venezuela. The law also does not cover members of the security forces convicted of terrorism-related offenses.
Hiowanka Avila, 39, stood outside Rodeo 1 prison near Caracas, where many former soldiers and officers are held.
Her brother, Henryberth Rivas, was arrested in 2018 on allegations he participated in an assassination attempt against Maduro using armed drones. “Many of us are aware that the amnesty law does not cover our relatives,” she told AFP.
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Arreaza said cases involving armed forces personnel would be handled through the military justice system, which would “grant benefits where appropriate.”
Before Friday’s announcement, the NGO Foro Penal had estimated roughly 650 people remained in detention for political reasons. That figure has not been updated since. Alfredo Romero, the organization’s director, cautioned that receiving amnesty would not be automatic and would require judicial processes in courts that many Venezuelans view as having served Maduro’s repressive apparatus.
Juan Pablo Guanipa, an opposition politician aligned with Machado, announced his release shortly after the law was passed. He had been freed from prison earlier this month but was quickly re-detained and placed under house arrest. “I am now completely free,” he wrote on social media, calling for all other political prisoners to be freed and for exiles to be allowed home. He appeared Friday at a rally in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city.
Rodriguez defended her government’s actions in a speech broadcast on state television Friday. “We are building a more democratic, more just, and freer Venezuela, and it must be with the effort of everyone,” she said.
Rights groups have raised concerns that the law could be used to shield officials responsible for abuses under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, an exiled opposition figure living in Spain and widely considered the legitimate winner of 2024 presidential elections that fraud allegations tainted, said Friday there could be “no lasting reconciliation without memory or responsibility.”
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“A responsible amnesty is the transition from fear to the rule of law,” Gonzalez Urrutia wrote on X. “It is the pledge that power will not be exercised again without limits and that the law will be above force.”
Maduro was declared the winner of those elections, but the results were disputed by opposition leaders and international observers. Gonzalez Urrutia has remained in Spain since leaving Venezuela.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Venezuelans have been imprisoned in recent years over alleged plots to topple the government, some of which authorities claimed were real conspiracies while others appeared fabricated to silence dissent.
The National Assembly did not specify how long the amnesty review process would take or provide details on which specific cases qualified under the new law.
Families waiting outside detention facilities said they had received little communication from authorities about when releases might begin or whether their relatives would be included.
