WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry marked the first ever celebration of the festival of Diwali at the State Department Thursday, urging all to embrace its spirit of optimism and hope.
The festival of lights, as it is commonly known, is celebrated across India, usually accompanied by lots of firecrackers.
"As the days grow shorter, the Diwali reminds us that spring always returns — that knowledge triumphs over ignorance, hope outlasts despair, and light replaces darkness," Kerry told his guests in the magnificent Benjamin Franklin room, lit with scores of tiny lamps and candles.
"Diwali is a time for the revitalization of mind and spirit. And just as critically, it affords a chance to reflect on how we can bring light to others."
Quoting civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Kerry echoed what the slain leader had said.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
In a nod to the conflicts around the world, Kerry said that "as we come together in the spirit of the Diwali festival, we need to, all of us, think about how to reaffirm our shared commitment to the light.
"And this is particularly a moment as we look at the events around the world where that commitment could serve all humankind."
President Barack Obama also sent his greetings via a video message saying that "lighting the light at Diwali is a chance to remember even in the midst of darkness that light will ultimately prevail."
Ties between India and the United States hit a rocky patch late last year, when an Indian diplomat was arrested in New York and then expelled from the US over allegations of mistreating her maid.
But India's ambassador to the US Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said this year's visit to the US of new Prime Minister Narendra Modi had marked "a new beginning" in ties.
"It will not only mean greater prosperity for both nations, but the advancement of common good," he said.
Kerry's hosting of the Diwali celebration at the State Department "had raised the bar of the relationship even higher," he added.
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Kerry marks Diwali festival at State Department
Kerry marks Diwali festival at State Department
Venezuela parliament unanimously approves amnesty law
CARACAS: Venezuela’s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved a long-awaited amnesty law that could free hundreds of political prisoners jailed for being government detractors.
But the law excludes those who have been prosecuted or convicted of promoting military action against the country — which could include opposition leaders like Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has been accused by the ruling party of calling for international intervention like the one that ousted former president Nicolas Maduro.
The bill now goes before interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who pushed for the legislation under pressure from Washington, after she rose to power following Maduro’s capture during a US military raid on January 3.
The law is meant to apply retroactively to 1999 — including the coup against previous leader Hugo Chavez, the 2002 oil strike, and the 2024 riots against Maduro’s disputed reelection — giving hope to families that loved ones will finally come home.
Some fear, however, the law could be used by the government to pardon its own and selectively deny freedom to real prisoners of conscience.
Article 9 of the bill lists those excluded from amnesty as “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.”
Venezuela’s National Assembly had delayed several sittings meant to pass the amnesty 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.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Venezuelans have been jailed in recent years over plots, real or imagined, to overthrow the government of Rodriguez’s predecessor and former boss Maduro, who was in the end toppled in the deadly US military raid.
Family members have reported torture, maltreatment and untreated health problems among the inmates.
The NGO Foro Penal says about 450 prisoners have been released since Maduro’s ouster, but more than 600 others remain behind bars.
Family members have been clamoring for their release for weeks, holding vigils outside prisons.
One small group, in the capital Caracas, staged a nearly weeklong hunger strike which ended 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 Thursday ahead of the vote.
On Wednesday, the chief of the US military command responsible for strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats off South America held talks in Caracas with Rodriguez and top ministers Vladimir Padrino and Diosdado Cabello .
All three were staunch Maduro backers who for years echoed his “anti-imperialist” rhetoric.
Rodriguez’s interim government has been governing with US President Donald Trump’s consent, provided she grants access to Venezuela’s vast oil resources.
