1,557 Venezuelan Political Prisoners Seek Amnesty as Post-Maduro Era Unfolds

Fifty days after Nicolás Maduro's dramatic capture by US forces, Venezuela's political landscape is reshaping itself—but not everyone gets to participate in the transformation.

The Numbers Behind the Amnesty

Jorge Rodríguez, Venezuela's National Assembly President and brother of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, announced that 1,557 political prisoners have applied for amnesty under new legislation introduced Thursday. "Hundreds" have already been released, he said, with the law potentially extending to 11,000 prisoners total.

Among those freed is opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa—ironically, one of the voices who had criticized the very law that secured his release. The government first announced this mass release on January 8, just five days after Maduro's capture, framing it as a "goodwill gesture" amid mounting US pressure.

The Fine Print: Who Gets Left Behind

But Venezuela's amnesty comes with carefully crafted exceptions. The law excludes those who "called for foreign armed intervention in Venezuela"—a provision that BBC Latin America specialist Luis Fajardo notes has sparked particular controversy.

Law professor Juan Carlos Apitz from Venezuela's Central University told CNN Español that this exclusion "has a name and surname"—calling it "the María Corina Machado paragraph." Whether the Nobel Peace Prize winner would actually be covered remains unclear, highlighting the law's deliberate ambiguity.

Similarly excluded are dozens of military officers who participated in rebellions against the Maduro administration over the years. The message seems clear: reconciliation has limits, and those limits are drawn around the regime's core security interests.

From El Helicoide to Freedom?

Rodríguez announced that releases would begin with "Zone Seven of El Helicoide"—the infamous Caracas prison where political detainees have been held. Families of some prisoners have reportedly gone on hunger strikes demanding their relatives' release.

President Donald Trump had promised to close El Helicoide following Maduro's capture, adding international pressure to the domestic demands for prisoner releases. The facility has long symbolized the Maduro government's authoritarian grip on power.

The Broader Political Calculation

For years, opposition groups and human rights organizations have accused the Maduro government of using political detention as a tool to crush dissent and silence critics. The socialist government has consistently denied holding political prisoners, maintaining that all detainees were criminals or conspirators.

Now, with Maduro himself awaiting trial in US custody alongside his wife Cilia Flores on drug and weapons charges—charges he denies while calling himself a "prisoner of war"—Venezuela's new leadership faces the delicate task of managing both domestic reconciliation and international legitimacy.

The answer may determine whether Venezuela's post-Maduro era represents genuine change or merely a more sophisticated form of the same authoritarian playbook.