Venezuela Passes Amnesty Bill Denounced by Some as ‘Unjust’

Venezuelan lawmakers passed a wide-ranging amnesty bill on Thursday that could free hundreds of political prisoners, perhaps the strongest indication yet that the interim government, under pressure from the United States, is moving to ease some of the regime’s most repressive tactics.

Experts and activists say the measure is narrow and imperfect: it applies to detentions dating back to 1999 but extends only to people held in a limited set of protests and about a dozen specific “politically motivated violent events.” Those accused of violent, armed actions are excluded, and critics note such allegations were often arbitrarily applied or based on fabricated evidence.

At a ceremony in the presidential palace, Delcy Rodríguez signed the law and urged Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello to review cases left out of the amnesty, highlighting tensions between her pragmatic wing and his hard-line faction.

Venezuela

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