Andean Group - June 2026

Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodríguez announced on 23 April that the amnesty process for political prisoners was drawing to a close, eliciting a chorus of condemnation from the opposition. Although the government later rowed back on Rodríguez’s comments, prisoner releases had already slowed substantially compared with the start of the year. The exception to this came in late May, when dozens of political detainees were released in a short period. This may have been a response to widespread outrage which followed the revelation that a political prisoner had been dead for nearly a year without his family being informed.

Speaking during the installation of a judicial reform commission, President Rodríguez said that the amnesty process for political prisoners “is coming to an end” and that “for those cases that weren’t covered, or rather, were expressly excluded from the amnesty law, there are other spaces where these can be processed”. Rodríguez implied that there should be a fixed timeframe for the release of political prisoners, claiming that the Venezuelan system compared favourably with the seven-year amnesty process that followed the end of apartheid in South Africa, or the 2024 amnesty law for Catalan separatists in Spain.

• Judicial reform

  On 23 April President Rodríguez installed a commission tasked with carrying out consultations regarding judicial reform. She said that “there are bad things that persist, that we haven’t been able to overcome, and that’s why we’re holding a national consultation, which isn’t just about consulting academics, specialists, those involved [in the justice system],” adding that “it’s about consulting the people about their views and their hopes regarding what the justice system should be like on a daily basis, above all, in the criminal realm”.

The amnesty law, which was approved by the national assembly at the end of January, does not have a cut-off date, although it has been criticised on numerous other grounds by the opposition [SSR-26-03]. Responding to Rodríguez’s comments, the opposition party Primero Justicia (PJ) accused her government of “leaving more than 600 innocent political prisoners inside torture centres”. The main opposition coalition Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD) identified a lower number of political prisoners in Venezuela; its most recent update at the time, issued on 31 March, stated that 460 political prisoners remained behind bars, with 758 having been released since Rodríguez took office at the start of the year.

The ruling Chavista movement subsequently backtracked on Rodríguez’s announcement. Jorge Arreaza, a former foreign minister (2017-2021) and the president of the congressional commission tasked with monitoring the implementation of the amnesty law, said on 24 April that “the amnesty law is not expiring” and that “requests will continue to be received”. He added, however, that “the law has benefitted practically all the people that it could”.

Adding to the sense that the authorities were winding down the prisoner release process, the PUD noted on 21 May that “releases continue to be sporadic”, with only 35 political prisoners released since its previous update on 27 April. This marked a sharp slowdown from the early phase of the amnesty process, when dozens of political detainees were often released each day.

Prisoner’s death sparks fury

Despite this, the release process did briefly pick up again in the days following the PUD’s observation, possibly in response to revelations about the death of a political prisoner which generated widespread public anger.

The case of Víctor Hugo Quero Navas, who was arrested in January 2025 for alleged terrorism, had gained growing media attention amid a campaign by his elderly mother, Carmen Teresa Navas, to learn why he had not been released as part of the amnesty process. On 7 May the prisons ministry revealed that Quero had in fact died in July 2025 after being taken to hospital for gastrointestinal bleeding. The statement added that, “due to the absence of relatives”, Quero was buried on 30 July – the same day that he died.

Accusations of a cover-up immediately ensued. Opposition leader María Corina Machado alleged that Quero was “disappeared, tortured, and murdered” in a “crime against humanity”. The PUD accused the authorities of “mocking his family by denying him an amnesty… despite knowing that he died 10 months ago”. Adding to the emotional resonance of the case, Quero’s mother Carmen died on 17 May, just ten days after learning of her son’s fate. Responding to her death, Machado said that the family’s suffering “encapsulates all the cruelty of the regime, the cynicism of the regime, and on the other hand the goodness, the resilience, and the courage that make up a mother’s love”.

The case, and Carmen’s death in particular, was a lightning rod for anger with the Rodríguez administration. Hundreds of students from the Universidad Central de Venezuela took to the streets in Caracas hours after her death, clashing with police. At Carmen’s funeral on 19 May, a large crowd gathered and chanted: ‘Murderers’. A silent march also took place in Caracas on 20 May to demand justice for political prisoners who have died in custody.

The swelling of anger in relation to the Quero case seems to have nudged the government into action. Even before the protests that followed Carmen’s death, the attorney general’s office was quick to announce the opening of an investigation on 7 May, and said that Quero’s body would be exhumed. Although the judiciary remains extremely politicised, and there will be doubts regarding the rigour of the investigation, its mere opening marks a shift from how such matters were dealt with under Rodríguez’s more repressive predecessor, Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026).

Rodríguez’s brother, Jorge Rodríguez, also announced on 18 May that 300 more prisoners would be released by 22 May, in a likely attempt to defuse the mounting outrage. He said that these would consist of people eligible for release under the amnesty law, as well as other categories of prisoner such as minors, the elderly, and pregnant women. However, Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal noted on 26 May that it had only been able to verify the release of 39 political prisoners since 18 May.

Alex Saab extradited to US

Alex Saab, the Colombian businessman who allegedly played a central role in sanctions evasion under Maduro, was extradited to the US on 16 May to face money laundering charges. According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, Saab was allegedly involved in “a sprawling international money laundering conspiracy involving the corruption and exploitation of a Venezuelan public welfare program intended to provide food to vulnerable Venezuelans”. He is accused of bribing Venezuelan officials to secure food import contracts under the Comité Local de Abastecimiento y Producción (Clap) scheme, siphoning off hundreds of millions of dollars which were allegedly laundered through US banks. The statement adds that Saab and co-conspirators also allegedly “gained access to billions of dollars’ worth of oil owned by Venezuelan state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (Pdvsa) and sold it under false pretenses”, with these proceeds also laundered through US banks.

      Saab was previously detained in the US from 2021-2023 on money laundering charges but was released as part of a prisoner exchange agreed under former president Joe Biden (2021-2025). His extradition, which followed reports of his arrest in Caracas on 4 February, has highlighted the potential legal perils faced by other current and former Venezuelan officials who are sought by the US. These include the interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, and the agriculture minister and former defence minister (2014-2026), General Vladimir Padrino López, who are both wanted in the US on drug trafficking charges. 

Dissident returns from exile

Lester Toledo, a high-profile political dissident who has been living in exile since 2016 when he was charged with terrorism offences, returned to Venezuela on 21 May. Toledo, who was a founding member of the opposition party Voluntad Popular (VP) and was a deputy in the Zulia state legislature from 2012-2016, said he was returning “to seek justice”. His return to Venezuela presents a test for President Rodríguez and will be closely watched by opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has also vowed to return from exile but has reportedly been urged not to do so by the US.