Venezuelan justice has announced the imminent release of 379 political detainees after the promulgation of an amnesty law promised by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who came to power after the ouster of Nicolas Maduro. If the government sees it as a gesture of openness, NGOs and relatives of prisoners denounce a partial measure, with numerous exclusions.

Published on: 02/20/2026 - 7:03 p.m. Modified on: 02/21/2026 - 10:42 a.m.

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Venezuelan justice is granting freedom to 379 political prisoners, announced late Friday night, February 20, the parliamentarian author of the amnesty law promulgated the day before and promised by the interim government following the ousting of former President Nicolas Maduro by the United States.

Some 379 detainees "must be released and amnestied between this evening and tomorrow morning", announced parliamentarian Jorge Arreaza, during a television interview, specifying that "the public prosecutor has sent requests for amnesty to the competent courts".

This law, voted on by deputies and promulgated on Thursday, was promised under pressure from the United States by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took the reins of power after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro during an American military operation on January 3.

Several experts nevertheless question its scope: hundreds of detainees, such as police officers and soldiers involved in activities classified as “terrorist”, could be excluded.

The measure does not fully cover the period 1999-2026, that of the presidencies of the late Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) and his successor Nicolas Maduro, the law referring to 13 specific periods.

Around the prisons, many relatives of political detainees have been waiting for weeks for the potential release of their loved ones.

“We extend our hand”

“Many of us know that the amnesty law does not concern our loved ones,” fears Hiowanka Avila, 39, whom AFP met before this late announcement. His brother Henryberth Rivas, 30, was arrested in 2018, accused of participating in an attempted assassination of Nicolas Maduro.

“All we have to do is wait for another measure, a pardon perhaps,” she lamented in front of the Rodeo 1 prison, about forty kilometers from Caracas, where many detainees are soldiers or police officers.

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“Today we are building a more democratic, fairer, freer Venezuela, and this must be done with the effort of everyone,” said Delcy Rodriguez earlier in a speech on television. “The steps we are taking, we are taking them with a Bolivarian conscience [in reference to the hero of the South American wars of independence Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), Editor’s note]”, “we are reaching out to those who think differently”.

This law is "a signal of maturity and political strength, which constitutes a decisive step for the stability of the nation", said the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino, in a press release.

“Freedom for all”

On Friday, the director of Foro Penal, Alfredo Romero, noted at a press conference that the amnesty was "not automatic", criticizing the procedure to be followed in court to be able to benefit from it.

“The results of the law are negative” because it leaves many people behind, judges Ali Daniels, director of the NGO Acceso a la Justicia, who highlights “serious structural deficiencies”.

Opponent Juan Pablo Guanipa, released on February 8 after nine months of detention for "conspiracy" then arrested again a few hours later, announced on Friday that he was completely free, his house arrest no longer being in force.

“We will all fight so that what has just begun becomes a reality and that we have democracy, freedom for all and equality!”, launched this ally of the leader of the right-wing opposition and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado in front of her supporters gathered in Maracaibo, the country's second city, demanding elections.

From Spain, where he is in exile, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate who claims victory in the 2024 presidential election, estimated that there would be "no lasting reconciliation without memory" and without "reparation".

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Delcy Rodriguez, who governs under American pressure, had promised an amnesty as well as judicial reform on January 30. She quickly adopted a new oil law opening the sector to the private sector and initiated a normalization of relations with the United States, which had been broken since 2019.

Welcoming the amnesty, Madrid indicated that it intended to ask the European Union to lift sanctions against the interim Venezuelan president.

With AFP

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