Venezuela’s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a long-debated amnesty law that could lead to the release of hundreds of political prisoners detained for opposing the government.
The legislation, however, excludes individuals prosecuted or convicted of promoting military action against the country — a provision that could affect opposition figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who has been accused by the ruling party of advocating for international intervention that resulted in the removal of former president Nicolas Maduro.
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez signed the bill into law at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.
Rodriguez assumed power after Maduro was captured during a U.S. military raid on January 3, and she advanced the legislation amid pressure from Washington.
“One must know how to ask for forgiveness and one must also know how to receive forgiveness,” Rodriguez said after signing the measure.
Among the first high-profile beneficiaries, Machado ally and former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa confirmed his release after approximately nine months in prison and under house arrest.
“After 10 months in hiding and almost nine months of unjust imprisonment, I confirm that I am now completely free,” Guanipa wrote on social media, sharing a photo of himself holding Venezuela’s flag.
He urged authorities to release all remaining political detainees and allow exiles to return, describing the law not as an amnesty but a “flawed document” that leaves some Venezuelans incarcerated.
“I thank all Venezuelans for fighting for my release and that of all political prisoners,” he added.
The legislation applies retroactively to 1999, encompassing events such as the coup attempt against former president Hugo Chavez, the 2002 oil strike and the 2024 unrest following Maduro’s disputed reelection.
Families of detainees have expressed hope the measure will reunite them with loved ones.
Critics caution, however, that the law could allow authorities to pardon allies while denying relief to prisoners of conscience.
Article 9 excludes from amnesty “persons who are being prosecuted or may be convicted for promoting, instigating, soliciting, invoking, favoring, facilitating, financing or participating in armed actions or the use of force against the people, sovereignty, and territorial integrity” of Venezuela “by foreign states, corporations or individuals.”
The National Assembly had previously postponed several sessions intended to pass the bill.
“The scope of the law must be restricted to victims of human rights violations and expressly exclude those accused of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including state, paramilitary and non-state actors,” UN human rights experts said in a statement from Geneva Thursday.
In recent years, hundreds — and possibly thousands — of Venezuelans have been detained over alleged plots to overthrow Maduro, who was ultimately removed in a deadly U.S. military operation. Relatives of detainees have reported torture, mistreatment and lack of medical care in prisons.
The rights group Foro Penal estimates that roughly 450 prisoners have been freed since Maduro’s ouster, while more than 600 remain incarcerated.
Families have staged vigils outside detention centers in recent weeks, and a small group in Caracas concluded a nearly weeklong hunger strike on Thursday.
“The National Assembly has the opportunity to show whether there truly is a genuine will for national reconciliation,” Foro Penal director Gonzalo Himiob wrote on X ahead of the vote.
On Wednesday, the head of the U.S. military command overseeing operations against suspected drug trafficking vessels off South America met in Caracas with Rodriguez and senior officials including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello — both long-time Maduro allies known for their “anti-imperialist” rhetoric.
Rodriguez’s interim administration has governed with the consent of US President Donald Trump, contingent on granting Washington access to Venezuela’s extensive oil reserves.
