The law, signed on Thursday, in effect reverses decades of denials in the government’s latest about-face since the United States military’s January 3 attack in the country’s capital, Caracas, and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro.
Opposition members, activists, human rights defenders, journalists and others who were targeted by the governing party over the past 27 years could benefit from the new law.
But families hoping for the release of relatives say acting President Delcy Rodriguez has failed to deliver on earlier promises to release prisoners. Some of them have been gathered outside detention centres for weeks.
Venezuela-based prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal has tallied 448 releases since January 8 and estimates that more than 600 people are still in custody for political reasons.
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Some prisoners were kept in custody for a matter of days. Others, years. The longest-serving ones, according to rights advocates, have been held in detention for more than two decades.
Jesus Armas, an engineer, political activist and university lecturer, was among the recent releases. When he left El Helicoide prison on February 8, he was eager to reclaim the small joys that had been denied to him.
"The most amazing thing that happened to me in the last few days was to see the sunrise," Armas said.
The soft, pinkish light mesmerised him, contrasting with the green of the surrounding mountains and concrete grey of the city.
"All of it together was, without doubt, poetry," he recalled.
His release had been sudden. Even his father didn’t know about it. When Armas appeared at his parents' home, his father froze and remained speechless for several minutes.
But slowly, life is settling into ordinary comforts: drinking tea with his mum, playing his guitar and video calls with his girlfriend, Sairam Rivas.
Her absence, however, is a reminder of the continued threat of repression in Venezuela. Rivas is in exile, having been threatened with arrest.
Still, he looks forward to their reunion. "It’s going to be wonderful," Armas said. "There’s nothing like hugging someone you love."
Armas was released shortly after the announcement of a planned amnesty law that aims to free many of those detained since 1999 in connection with political activity.
That legislation was passed on Thursday and signed into law that very night. Interim President Delcy Rodriguez hailed the measure as "opening new avenues for politics in Venezuela".
But there have been concerns that the amnesty law may not protect every political dissident who faces arrest or imprisonment.
Critics also point to government statements that suggest accountability for human rights abuses remains a distant prospect.
"We ask for forgiveness, and we also have to forgive," Jorge Rodriguez, the leader of Venezuela's National Assembly and the president's brother, said during a debate on the amnesty bill.
For some rights advocates, the call for forgiveness obscures a need for justice.
President Rodriguez and her brother both worked in the highest echelons of the Maduro administration, a government that the United Nations accused of "grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity".
In a statement in January, UN expert Maria Eloisa Quintero underscored that leaders across Maduro's former government share responsibility for the violent repression.
"Responsibility for these violations is not limited to Nicolas Maduro," Quintero said.
Maduro himself has yet to face punishment related to his government's human rights abuses. Instead, he faces trial in the US for drug-trafficking and the possession of weapons.
A separate case in Argentina seeks his extradition for crimes against humanity.
Martha Tineo, cofounder of the nonprofit Justicia, Encuentro y Perdon (JEP), told Al Jazeera that repression in Venezuela has been "systemic" under Maduro.
She pointed to a record of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and torture, including through isolation, sleep deprivation and inadequate food.
To this day, at least 644 political prisoners remain in jail, according to Foro Penal.
Many of those released continue to face strict conditions, including regular check-ins and gag orders.
For human rights activists like Tineo, these restrictions cast doubt on the political motives behind the prisoner releases. Tineo believes they are an exercise in public relations.
"The releases that have taken place since the official announcement on January 8 are isolated, tactical measures aimed at easing international pressure," she told
For Armas, the joy of his homecoming has been dulled by the fear of continued persecution.
The trouble largely began after he served as an organiser for Venezuela's opposition during the contested 2024 presidential election.
Protesters had denounced the vote as rigged after Maduro's government failed to provide the official results of the election. The opposition, meanwhile, published evidence suggesting its candidate had won by a considerable margin.
That prompted a sweeping government crackdown on dissenters.
In December 2024, Armas was arrested. He said he was taken to a house where he was blindfolded, tied to a chair for days and suffocated with a plastic bag.
Later, he shared a dingy cell with dozens of other prisoners – and rats. Once he was transferred to El Helicoide, his friends and family had no contact with him for 10 months.
His release, however, has not meant freedom. The day he stepped out of prison, he celebrated by joining a motorcycle parade with Juan Pablo Guanipa, a prominent politician who had also been freed.
Juan Pablo Guanipa and Jesus Armas ride on the backs of motorcycles in a parade
Opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, right, and political activist Jesus Armas ride on the backs of motorbikes after their release [Cristian Hernandez/AP Photo]
There was a feeling of energy and optimism, Armas recalled, as they visited the families of other political prisoners. But within hours, Guanipa was abducted by masked individuals. No one knew where he had been taken.
"I couldn’t sleep because I was scared," he said. His first night home was spent lying in bed, checking for news about Guanipa.
"I had all this adrenaline, all these mixed emotions. I was happy because I was with my parents, but there was also fear."
Officials accused Guanipa of breaching the rules of his release, although it is not clear what those limits were. He was held incommunicado for hours before being fitted with an electronic ankle monitor and placed under house arrest.
Only after the passage of the amnesty bill on Thursday was Guanipa released from house arrest, according to a statement from his brother Tomas Guanipa.
Still, Guanipa himself warned that the amnesty law would not end the government's oppressive tactics. He highlighted its exclusions and loopholes.
"What was approved today in the legislative palace is no amnesty," Guanipa wrote on social media after his second release in less than two weeks.
"It is a flawed document intended to blackmail many innocent Venezuelans and excludes several brothers and sisters who remain unjustly behind bars."
For Tineo, cases of re-arrest like Guanipa's show that Venezuela is not sincere about ending government repression.
"As long as judicial restrictions remain in place for those released and the 'revolving door' practice continues – new detentions following releases – it can’t be said that there is an end to the policy of persecution," she said.