Venezuela

Acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez On Friday he announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisonersincluding opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons.

The move had long been sought by the U.S.-backed opposition. It is the last concession that Rodríguez has made since he took the reins of the country on January 3 after the brazen takeover of the then president. Nicolas Maduro in an American army stroke in the capital of Venezuela, Caracas.

Rodríguez told a meeting of magistrates, ministers, senior military officers and other government leaders that the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party, would urgently take up the bill.

“May this law serve to heal the wounds left by the political confrontation fueled by violence and extremism,” he added in the pre-recorded televised event. “May it serve to redirect justice in our country, and may it serve to redirect coexistence among Venezuelans.”

This comes as the US Embassy in Venezuela also announced on Friday that all US citizens detained in Venezuela have been released.

“We are pleased to confirm the release by provisional authorities of all known US citizens detained in Venezuela,” the embassy said in a social media post. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, republished the news on his personal X account.

It was not immediately clear how many people were freed. News themezone has contacted the State Department.

Earlier this month, a hostage defender Familiar with the situation had told News themezone that at least four Americans were still detained in Venezuela.

In July, 10 Americans were released from Venezuela as part of a prisoner exchange involving the United States and El Salvador. The Americans were freed in exchange for El Salvador returning 252 Venezuelans who were deported from the United States to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorist Confinement Center, or BLIND

The United States does not physically operate an embassy in Venezuela, after it closed its embassy in Caracas in 2019. amid massive protests and political unrest. Since then, it operates its consular services from Bogotá, Colombia. after the wake Following the U.S. capture of Maduro in early January, the Trump administration notified Congress this week that it would begin taking steps to eventually reopen its embassy in Venezuela.

Laura Dogu, the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela, traveled to Caracas on Saturday to meet with Venezuelan officials, Yvan Gil, Venezuela’s foreign minister, posted on social media. Gil said that their meeting aims to “draw a roadmap to work on issues of bilateral interest, as well as address and resolve existing differences through diplomatic dialogue and on the basis of mutual respect and International Law.”

Meanwhile, Rodríguez also announced the closure of Helicoide, a prison in Caracas where independent organizations have repeatedly documented torture and other human rights abuses. The facility, he said, will be transformed into a sports, social and cultural center for the police and surrounding neighborhoods.

Rodríguez made his announcement before some of the officials who former prisoners and human rights defenders have accused of ordering the abuses committed at Helicoide and other detention centers.

Relatives of some prisoners livestreamed Rodríguez’s speech by phone as they gathered outside the Helicoide. Some cried. Many chanted “Freedom! Freedom!”

“God is good. God heard us,” said Johana Chirinos, a prisoner’s aunt, as tears streamed down her face.

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado In a statement it said the announced actions were not taken “voluntarily, but in response to pressure from the United States government.” He also pointed out that there are people detained for their political activities from one month to 23 years.

“The repressive apparatus of the regime is brutal and has responded to the numerous criminal forces that respond to this regime, and that is all that remains,” Machado said. “When repression disappears and fear is lost, it will be the end of tyranny.”

Venezuela-based prisoner rights group Foro Penal estimates that 711 people are in detention centers across the South American country for their political activities. Of them, 183 have been convicted.

Among the prominent members of the political opposition who were detained after the 2024 presidential election and remain in prison are former legislator Freddy Superlano, Machado’s lawyer Perkins Rocha, as well as Juan Pablo Guanipa, a former governor and one of Machado’s closest allies.

The government did not release the text of the bill on Friday, leaving it unclear what specific criteria will be used to determine who qualifies for the amnesty.

Rodríguez affirmed that the “general amnesty law” will cover “the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present.” He also explained that people convicted of murder, drug trafficking, corruption or human rights violations will not have the right to receive help.

Rodríguez’s government announced plans earlier this month to release a significant number of prisoners in a gesture of goodwill, but relatives of those detained have condemned the slow pace of releases.

“A general amnesty is welcome as long as its elements and conditions include all civil society, without discrimination, that it does not become a cloak of impunity and that it contributes to dismantling the repressive apparatus of political persecution,” Alfredo Romero, president of the Penal Forum, said on social networks.

The organization has counted 302 releases since the January 8 announcement.

The human rights group Provea denounced in a statement the lack of transparency and the “drip” of prisoner releases. He also stressed that although the release of those still detained “is urgent, the announcement of an amnesty should not be conceived, under any circumstances, as a pardon or an act of clemency on the part of the State.”

“We remember that these people were arbitrarily imprisoned for exercising rights protected by international human rights instruments, the National Constitution and Venezuelan laws,” the organization said.

Outside another detention center in Caracas, Edward Ocariz, who was detained for more than five months after the 2024 elections, joined relatives of prisoners to demand the early release of their loved ones.

“All Venezuelans have endured so much, everything unfair, ruthless and trampling on our dignity. Nobody deserves this,” said Ocariz. “And today, the culprits continue to govern Venezuela.”