Venezuela Protests News: No Amnesty For Jailed Opposition Leaders, Says Government

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has rejected a demand by the opposition coalition known as the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) for a mass amnesty for jailed opposition members, reports El Nacional. MUD executive secretary Ramón Guillermo Aveledo told the paper that the next meeting with Maduro’s government would deal with the creation of a special team to work on the question of political prisoners and exiled opposition leaders and activists. “We’re looking to seek out other paths,” said Aveledo. Some 175 people remain in detention in connection with recent protests.

The demand for the release of jailed protestors and opposition leaders was a central one for the most conservative opposition members, who refused to sit down with the government unless it guaranteed amnesty. Some of the most prominent leaders detained belong to that opposition sector, including Leopoldo López -- a former mayor of a Caracas district who faces 17 years in prison for his role in convening protests -- and Daniel Ceballos, mayor of the city where protests first began in early February and who was arrested for refusing to clear road barricades set up by opposition protestors.

Brazilian ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo confirmed that Maduro’s government had “no intention … at least for the time being, to have an amnesty law,” but added that it was ready “to look at specific cases.” “There’s good will on the government’s part to examine cases,” he said, especially in the case of students who were detained in connection with the demonstrations. The ambassador added that the case of Leopoldo López, as well as that of Ceballos and another detained opposition mayor, “was not touched upon” during the closed-door meeting.