
Venezuelan authorities approved on Friday a protocol to speed up implementation of an amnesty law passed the previous day by the National Assembly, as relatives of political detainees kept vigils outside several detention sites, calling for additional releases.
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Opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa and several close collaborators of anti-government figure María Corina Machado were released from detention in Venezuela on Sunday, in a new round of politically sensitive releases that rights groups say must be measured not only by numbers but also by whether detainees regain full civil and political rights.

Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), on Friday challenged what it called “serious omissions” in a proposed amnesty law promoted by acting President Delcy Rodríguez and approved in a first debate by the chavista-controlled National Assembly.

Delcy Rodríguez said on Friday she will push a “general amnesty law” covering political prisoners and instructed that the draft be sent to the Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela, where it is expected to be debated and approved next week. The announcement was delivered at an event held at Tribunal Supremo de Justicia de Venezuela, as reported by El País.

Venezuela freed “at least 80” political prisoners on Sunday across multiple detention facilities, according to a preliminary count by rights group Foro Penal, in a slow-moving release process that has left relatives camping outside prisons while awaiting official confirmation.

Hundreds of relatives of the Venezuelan Bolivarian regime's political prisoners remained outside the various detention facilities into the early hours of Tuesday. Still, only 24 of them were released in the end, whereas human rights groups such as Foro Penal insist some 800 of them remain incarcerated.

Former Nueva Esparta Governor Alfredo Díaz has died while in the custody of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) at the El Helicoide detention center, his family and human rights organizations confirmed this weekend in Caracas. Díaz, 56, had been detained since November 2024 and was facing judicial proceedings on charges of terrorism and incitement to hatred.

After the presidential election in Venezuela on May 20, in which President Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, a wave of arrests has been reported among Venezuelan military in several parts of the country. As well as releases and new arrests of civilians and soldiers for political reasons.