Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado denounced this Saturday that political prisoners who are military personnel in the South American country have had their food rations reduced in prisons, and vowed she would not rest until all are released. “The regime has singled them out (military) for years, has disappeared them, has tortured them, and has humiliated their families. In recent days, they have even reduced their food portions in the prisons,” she stated in a post on X. The former deputy indicated that many of the detained soldiers are the best officers in their respective promotions within the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB). “Their comrades are pressuring for the release of civilians and not the military,” she added. Last February, the Venezuelan Parliament passed an Amnesty Law that covers a 27-year period, starting in 1999 —when chavism came to power—, but establishes that it will be granted to people linked to 13 “events” that occurred in 13 different years. The law excludes the rest of the established period, as well as cases related to military operations and other crimes, such as corruption, homicide, and human rights violations. Various organizations have criticized the law, which they consider “exclusive,” and this Friday, the NGOs Justice, Encounter and Pardon (JEP) and Alert Venezuela stated that its application functions as a “mirage of stabilization” in the country. As of Friday, Venezuela's justice system has granted full freedom to 8,068 people during the first month of the Amnesty Law, enacted in February, according to information from chavist deputy Jorge Arreaza, who chairs the parliamentary commission for monitoring the law.
