The largest opposition coalition in Venezuela, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD)demanded this Tuesday that the amnesty currently being discussed by Parliament be “true, comprehensive and effective” and that there be a “full” release of all political prisoners.
“An amnesty that excludes prisoners is not amnesty. An amnesty that conditions, that limits, that selects who it reaches and who it does not, is not an act of justice, it is the administration of punishment,” said the coalition on social network X.
The amnesty bill, although it has been proposed since 1999, details ten events of the political situation, which has been criticized by various NGOs because, they say, it leaves out hundreds of political prisoners, including soldiers.
Last Thursday, The National Assembly (AN, Parliament), controlled by Chavismo, postponed until this week the second and last debate necessary for the approval of the lawas there are differences over an article that establishes that those who want to benefit from the amnesty must put themselves “upright”, that is, appear before the justice system.
Venezuela, in the opinion of the PUD, needs “full freedom for all political prisoners, without exceptions, without calculations and without legal traps”, as well as “the real end of persecution and guarantees so that exiles can return without fear.”
“You cannot talk about reconciliation while the regulatory mechanisms and the repressive apparatus that imprisoned, disqualified and exiled thousands of Venezuelans remain intact. “An instrument that leaves in the hands of the same structures that pursued the possibility of freedom cannot be presented as a solution,” Indian.
In that sense, he asserted that freedom “cannot depend on discretionary interpretations or political filters.”
“The country has already suffered and waited too much,” he added.
The amnesty law proposal is part of what the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, calls a “new political moment” for the country and in the midst of a release process announced on January 8, five days after the capture of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, by the United States.
Situation of those detained for political reasons in Venezuela
Meanwhile, relatives of political prisoners remain outside detention centers awaiting new releases.
Since last Saturday, a group of women have remained chained and on hunger strike outside a police command in Caracas to demand the release of their relatives, and some of them have already suffered health problems.
According to the NGO Foro Penal, there are still more than 600 of these detainees in the country, after the 444 releases that the organization has verified since January 8.
This organization, which leads the defense of political prisoners in Venezuela, called on Thursday not to give up if the amnesty law “does not meet expectations.”
