CARACAS: Venezuelan authorities granted amnesty to 379 political prisoners, a lawmaker overseeing the process said on Friday, after a new mass amnesty law was enacted following the ouster of former leader Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela’s National Assembly unanimously adopted the law on Thursday, providing hope that hundreds of political prisoners behind bars may soon be released.
National Assembly deputy Jorge Arreaza said in a televised interview on Friday that a total of 379 people “must be released, granted amnesty, between tonight and tomorrow morning.”
“Requests have been submitted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to the competent courts to grant amnesty measures,” he said.
Many relatives of prisoners across Venezuela have waited outside jails for weeks for the potential release of their loved ones.
Hundreds have already been granted conditional release by Interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s government since the deadly US raid that seized Maduro.
The NGO Foro Penal had said before the announcement that some 650 were detained, a toll that has not been updated since.
Foro Penal director Alfredo Romero said Friday that receiving “amnesty is not automatic,” but would require a process in the courts, viewed by many as an arm of Maduro’s repression.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Venezuelans have been jailed in recent years over plots, real or imagined, to overthrow Maduro’s government.
Rodriguez was formerly Maduro’s vice president and took his place as the South American country’s leader with the consent of US President Donald Trump, provided that she toe Washington’s line.
The United States has taken over control of Venezuela’s oil sales, with Trump vowing a share for Washington in the profits.