By IO Digest Desk
Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, announced on the event date 2026-01-30 that she would propose a broad amnesty law covering political violence cases from 1999 to the present and close the notorious El Helicoide prison in Caracas, according to the supplied evidence. The plan was presented at the Venezuelan Supreme Court in a speech attended by senior government officials.
The source says Rodriguez described the proposal as a general amnesty law spanning the period from the start of Hugo Chavez's presidency through the years that followed under Nicolas Maduro. She said the measure was intended to heal wounds left by political confrontation and violence and to put justice back on track. At the same time, she announced a major national consultation on creating a new judicial system, suggesting that the amnesty was being framed as one part of a much wider institutional reset.
The plan to shut El Helicoide gave the announcement immediate symbolic force. The massive Caracas complex was originally built as a shopping mall but later became one of the country's most feared detention sites. According to the evidence packet, rights groups say political prisoners were tortured there by Maduro's intelligence services. Rodriguez said the building would be transformed into a sports, cultural and commercial center for police families and neighboring communities.
The proposal came during a period of rapid changes after Maduro's removal. The report says Rodriguez, formerly Maduro's vice-president, had been in power for less than four weeks and was moving quickly on reforms favored by Washington. Together with National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez, she had already advanced legislation opening the oil sector to private investment, a step followed almost immediately by a rollback of US sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry.
There had already been some prisoner releases. According to the source, the government agreed on 2026-01-08 to free detainees regarded by rights groups as political prisoners, but families and advocacy organizations criticized the pace. The NGP and Foro Penal counted fewer than 300 releases since that date. A mother interviewed by AFP near El Helicoide said she had not heard from her imprisoned son in six months and reacted with joy to the prospect that an amnesty might finally secure his release.
Opposition figures responded with guarded optimism rather than full endorsement. The evidence says Maria Corina Machado argued the amnesty proposal came only because Rodriguez was under pressure from the United States, not as a voluntary act by the governing camp. Opposition lawmaker Tomas Guanipa, whose brothers are imprisoned, said he hoped it would end an era of repression.
The broader diplomatic climate also appeared to be shifting. The report says all known Americans held in Venezuela had been released, a US flight ban was lifted and Washington was preparing to restore a diplomatic presence in Caracas. For the event dated 2026-01-30, the core verified development is that Venezuela's acting president publicly tied judicial reform, political prisoner policy and the future of one of the country's most notorious prisons into a single, high-stakes political announcement.
