Weekly Report - 05 February 2026 (WR-26-05)

The steady release of political prisoners in Venezuela since 8 January could soon become a flood, after President Delcy Rodríguez announced plans for a general amnesty bill. Opposition leader María Corina Machado expressed hope that this would embolden critics of the regime and mark a tipping point leading to Venezuela’s democratisation. However, a transition to democracy will depend to a large extent on the amount of pressure applied from Washington via its new envoy to Venezuela, Laura Dogu, who met Rodríguez on 2 February.