Eduardo González
The Spanish government welcomed the general amnesty law announced by Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, and called for its swift implementation.
“The Spanish government welcomes the announcement by Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, of a general amnesty law covering crimes committed in the country from 1999 to the present,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release. “Spain encourages the law to be implemented quickly,” it continued. “Spain is prepared to support Venezuela in this new phase,” it concluded.
Meanwhile, the leader of the People’s Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, wrote on social media that “Delcy Rodríguez is not acting out of conviction. She is acting on orders from the United States.” “Venezuela is a better country without Maduro, and Venezuela will be an even better country with Edmundo González and María Corina Machado,” he continued.
“But until that moment arrives, we celebrate that the dictatorship is now doing, at Washington’s behest, what it should have done long ago with the pressure (which never came) from the Spanish government,” Feijóo stated. “I regret the position that Pedro Sánchez and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero have taken on this matter. I hope that one day we will learn their true motivations,” he concluded.
Delcy Rodríguez announced this Friday that her government has decided “to promote a General Amnesty Law that covers the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present.” “May this law serve to heal the wounds left by political confrontation fueled by violence and extremism, may it serve to reinstate justice in our country, and may it serve to restore harmony among Venezuelans,” Rodríguez declared during the solemn opening session of the 2026 judicial year.
She also asserted that this decision “enshrines the spirit” of former President Hugo Chávez and President Nicolás Maduro, who was overthrown and kidnapped in early January by U.S. forces on the orders of President Donald Trump. The amnesty will not benefit “those prosecuted and convicted of homicide, drug trafficking, corruption, and serious human rights violations,” she added.
The law still needs to be approved by the National Assembly. In this regard, the Speaker of the House, Jorge Rodríguez (brother of the acting president), has assured via social media that Parliament will address “immediately” Delcy Rodríguez’s request “to work on a General Amnesty Law, once it is presented by the Commission for Judicial Revolution.” The amnesty will benefit the more than 700 prisoners who remain incarcerated in the country.
