VENEZUELA: Bishops plea to set political captives free

VENEZUELA’S bishops have called for the release of all political prisoners as part of a plea for the country to embrace “forgiveness and reconciliation”. 
The urgent request came as part of a wide-ranging entreaty for national reconciliation, solidarity with the poor and “promotion of the common good” issued on Monday (9th February) at the close of the plenary meeting of the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela.

The bishops said repealing all laws restricting fundamental freedoms – including freedom of speech and the right to vote – would promote peaceful progress and they demanded “the full release of all political prisoners and those detained for unjust reasons”. 

In the statement, the Church leaders threw their support behind a proposed amnesty law, which they said should be “the result of extensive consultation with all sectors of civil society.”

According to the prelates this would represent “an important step forward in the long and difficult path of national reconciliation and the reestablishment of civil and democratic coexistence”.

The UN Human Rights Office has received reports of politicians, activists and journalists being charged with crimes including terrorism or treason. 

The draft amnesty law passed its first parliamentary reading unopposed on 5th February.

According to Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, 383 political prisoners have been released since 8th January – but around 680 remain in detention.

Alex Neve, part of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela, said: “This law has the potential to contribute to restoring rights and repairing Venezuela’s social fabric.

“But the voices of the countless Venezuelans whose rights have been violated in the country’s prisons, as well as the civil society organisations who have assisted and defended them, must be at the centre of this process.”

The bishops expressed their solidarity with political prisoners and their families, emigrees, the sick who cannot obtain medicine, young people lacking opportunities, marginalized indigenous communities, those who have had property confiscated arbitrarily “and so many others who suffer for different and unjust reasons”. 

With oil now being sold abroad following the United States’ seizure of former President Nicolas Maduro, bishops called for “the revenue from the reactivation of the oil industry be used to improve salaries and to implement social programmes… that ensure dignified work and pay”.

Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) backed the bishops of Venezuela call for all parts of the country to work together for national reconciliation, respect for national sovereignty, the release of political prisoners, and the use of oil revenues to help the poorest members of society.