Rodriguez called for healing from “the wounds left by political confrontation” while announcing the closure of the notorious El Helicord prison.

interim president of venezuela Delcy Rodriguez Announced an amnesty bill that could free hundreds of prisoners, her latest major overhaul since US forces kidnapped the country’s prisoners President Nicolás Maduro and his wife earlier this month.

“We decided to move forward with a comprehensive amnesty law covering the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present day,” Rodriguez said on Friday.

Addressing a gathering of judges, magistrates, ministers, military officers and other government leaders, the acting president said the National Assembly would urgently consider the amnesty bill.

“May this law help heal the wounds left by political confrontations fueled by violence and extremism,” Rodriguez said during a prerecorded television event.

“May it transform justice in our country and transform coexistence among Venezuelans,” she said.

Rodriguez also announced the closure of El Helix, a notorious secret service prison in Caracas where independent groups have documented torture and other human rights abuses.

She said El Helicoide would be transformed into a sporting, social and cultural hub for the surrounding community.

Rodriguez made the announcement in front of officials accused by former prisoners and human rights watchdogs of overseeing Spiral Island and other detention facilities.

Venezuela-based prisoner rights group Foro Penal estimates that 711 people are detained across Venezuela for political activities. The organization said 183 of them had been sentenced.

Alfredo Romero, president of the Foro criminal court, welcomed the planned amnesty but said it must apply to all prisoners “without discrimination”.

“An amnesty is welcome as long as its elements and conditions cover all civil society without discrimination, do not become a cloak of impunity, and contribute to the dismantling of repressive institutions of political persecution,” Romero wrote in a post on social media.

According to Foro Penal, some 302 prisoners are Released by the Rodriguez Administration After Maduro was kidnapped by the United States.

The group later posted video footage on social media that it said showed human rights worker Eduardo Torres, who had been detained since May 2025, being released from prison on Friday night.

Translation: Our colleague Eduardo Torres from @proveaong, human rights defender and former political prisoner, is out of prison.

Families and rights advocates have long called for the charges and convictions of detainees, who are considered political prisoners, to be dropped.

Government officials, who deny holding political prisoners and say those imprisoned committed crimes, report that more than 600 people have been released without a clear timetable, and appear to include prisoners released in previous years.