{"id":449231,"date":"2026-01-31T09:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T09:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/449231\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T09:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T09:23:09","slug":"venezuela-announces-mass-amnesty-plan-for-political-prisoners-dating-back-to-chavez-era-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/449231\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela announces mass amnesty plan for political prisoners dating back to Chavez era | Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venezuela\u2019s acting president announced on Friday a proposal for mass amnesty in the country, in her latest significant reform since the US toppling of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> just weeks ago.<\/p>\n

In a speech at the Venezuelan supreme court attended by top government officials, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> said she would propose a \u201cgeneral amnesty law covering the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present\u201d.<\/p>\n

Leftist revolutionary Hugo Ch\u00e1vez assumed the presidency in 1999, and was succeeded upon his death in 2013 by Maduro, who oversaw an increasingly authoritarian government and whose two re-elections were widely dismissed as fraudulent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis law will serve to heal the wounds left by political confrontation, fuelled by violence and extremism. It will allow us to put justice back on track in our country,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said, also announcing a \u201cmajor national consultation for a new judicial system\u201d.<\/p>\n

She announced also plans to close the notorious El Helicoide prison in Caracas<\/a>, where rights groups say political prisoners were tortured by Maduro\u2019s intelligence services.<\/p>\n

The massive facility, originally built as a shopping mall, will be turned into a \u201csports, cultural and commercial centre for police families and neighbouring communities,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said.<\/p>\n

A mother interviewed by AFP near El Helicoide was overjoyed that her son, imprisoned inside, would possibly soon be released under the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful! I haven\u2019t heard from my son in six months, so, damn it, this is a huge joy, it\u2019s an amnesty, my God, it\u2019s total liberation,\u201d said Betsy Orellana, 63.<\/p>\n

Formerly Maduro\u2019s vice-president, Rodr\u00edguez, 56, has moved quickly \u2013 in less than four weeks in power \u2013 to overhaul Venezuelan society in ways sought by the US, earning high praise from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

People light candles during a vigil to demand the release of political prisoners outside a prison in Venezuela. Photograph: Federico Parra\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

With her brother, the national assembly president, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez , she has passed a new law opening up the country\u2019s critical oil sector to private investments \u2013 one of Trump\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

The move on Thursday was almost immediately followed by a rollback of US sanctions targeting Venezuela\u2019s oil industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The government also agreed on 8 January, five days after Maduro was seized in a deadly US military operation, to free inmates that are considered political prisoners by rights groups.<\/p>\n

Families \u2013 many of whom began camping outside the prisons \u2013 and rights groups have criticised the slow pace of the releases, with the NGP, Foro Penal, counting less than 300 prisoners released since 8 January.<\/p>\n

Opposition figures in Venezuela have expressed reserved optimism about the changes, wary that Maduro\u2019s closest allies remain in power.<\/p>\n

The Nobel Peace prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado said on Friday Rodr\u00edguez amnesty proposal came only after she was pushed by Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a voluntary gesture by the regime, but a response to pressure from the United States government. And I hope that the prisoners will soon be able to be with their families,\u201d she posted on social media.<\/p>\n

Opposition lawmaker Tom\u00e1s Guanipa, whose two brothers are imprisoned, said he hoped the amnesty would end \u201can era of repression\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay this be the beginning of a path that leads us to freedom and democracy, definitively and forever,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n

US authorities on Friday announced that all Americans known to be held prisoner in Venezuela had been released.<\/p>\n

The announcement came hours after the release of Peruvian-American political prisoner Arturo Gallino Rullier, whom the Foro Penal group said was on his way to the US.<\/p>\n

For years, Venezuela has routinely arrested foreigners and members of the domestic opposition on a range of charges from spying to plotting attacks \u2013 charges critics dismiss as fabricated.<\/p>\n

In a sign of Trump\u2019s satisfaction with the new Venezuelan authorities, his administration has lifted a ban on US flights to the South American country.<\/p>\n

And after years of the US embassy being closed, Washington is also preparing to re-establish its diplomatic presence in Caracas.<\/p>\n

Seasoned diplomat Laura Dogu was recently named US charge d\u2019affaires for Venezuela \u2013 the highest level representative below an ambassador.<\/p>\n

Dogu is expected to arrive in Caracas on Saturday, diplomatic sources told AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Venezuela\u2019s acting president announced on Friday a proposal for mass amnesty in the country, in her latest significant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-449231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}