Venezuela's parliament could pass a long-awaited amnesty law Thursday it is hoped will free hundreds of political prisoners.
The bill, pushed by interim president Delcy Rodriguez under pressure from Washington, is meant to apply retroactively to 1999, giving hope to families that loved ones jailed for being government detractors will finally come home.
Some fear, however, the law could be used by the government to pardon its own and selectively deny freedom to real prisoners of conscience.
"The scope of the law must be restricted to victims of human rights violations and expressly exclude those accused of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including state, paramilitary and non-state actors," UN human rights experts said in a statement from Geneva Thursday.
Venezuela's National Assembly has delayed several sittings meant to pass the amnesty bill.
It reconvened on Thursday for a session that is widely expected to adopt the text following last-minute haggling over the wording of an article suggesting people must appear before a court to determine whether the amnesty applies to them.
The opposition has objected to the provision, given that Venezuelan courts are widely seen to be in cahoots with the government.
- Genuine will? -
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Venezuelans have been jailed in recent years over plots, real or imagined, to overthrow the government of Rodriguez's predecessor and former boss Nicolas Maduro, who was in the end toppled in a deadly US military operation.
Family members have reported torture, maltreatment and untreated health problems among the inmates.
The NGO Foro Penal says about 450 prisoners have been released since Maduro's ouster, but more than 600 others remain behind bars.
Family members have been clamoring for their release for weeks, holding vigils outside prisons. One small group, in the capital Caracas, is staging a hunger strike, with three of 10 original protesters maintaining a fast that entered its sixth day Thursday.
"The National Assembly has the opportunity to show whether there truly is a genuine will for national reconciliation," Foro Penal director Gonzalo Himiob wrote on X Thursday ahead of the expected amnesty vote.
On Wednesday, the chief of the US military command responsible for strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats off South America held talks in Caracas with Rodriguez and top ministers Vladimir Padrino (defense) and Diosdado Cabello (interior).
All three were staunch Maduro backers who for years echoed his "anti-imperialist" rhetoric.
Rodriguez's interim government has been governing with US President Donald Trump's consent, provided she grants access to Venezuela's vast oil resources.
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