"There can be no impunity": the amnesty proposed by the Venezuelan opposition provokes criticism

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan opposition leaders have expressed hope that the offer of amnesty to the military authorities, in exchange for their political support, would be impossible to dismiss.

The country's army was a bulwark for President Nicolás Maduro, even as the country sank more and more into an economic and humanitarian crisis. The military has a lot to lose if the opposition succeeds in expelling the president from power, as the establishment of a new government could compel them to be held accountable for well-documented allegations of torture, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests and corruption.

Efforts to encourage military officials to leave Maduro are a crucial part of the opposition's plan to form a transitional government, pending new elections. "It is not enough to twist our arms, but to shake our hands," opposition leader Juan Guaidó said at a demonstration on 23 January.

However, according to some critics, facilitating a rapid transition to democracy should not go before the possibility of bringing to justice the perpetrators of serious crimes. Human rights defenders and Venezuelan victims of abuse say that Guaidó 's draft amnesty is immoral and illegal.

The legal experts say that this measure would exempt all officials who sign the bill from any crime, which would be in violation of the Venezuelan Constitution and the country's international law commitments.

"The imprecise and vague provisions of the bill could guarantee general impunity for those responsible for serious human rights violations," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch, in a statement. "Any amnesty preventing the investigation and prosecution of public and military officials responsible for serious human rights violations is inconsistent with Venezuela's international legal obligations."

In Latin America and in other parts of the world, amnesty proposals have been at the center of several government transitions from autocracy to democracy, as they have eased tensions. as traumatized societies began to reconcile and rebuild their institutions. democratic

However, there is no historical precedent for what the Venezuelan opposition is trying to do, said Juan Méndez, an expert in international law at the American University, who was, from 2010 to 2016, United States Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel Treatment or Punishment. , inhuman or degrading.

The authoritarian governments of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile have pbaded laws or amnesty agreements before ceding power. In Argentina and Chile, victims' rights groups and courts have found a way to prosecute hundreds of people for crimes committed during the dictatorship, despite the amnesty laws .

However, Méndez said that he no longer remembered when this offer came from those who wanted to take control of a nation, which questioned its effectiveness.

"The military is always trying to predict where the wind will blow before changing sides," explained Méndez. "In that sense, it may be an effective tool."

However, unless Guaidó takes control of the country's institutions, from a legal point of view, the proposal "means nothing," added Méndez.

Although Guaidó 's allies insistently defended the amnesty law, to the extent that they even distributed leaflets to the army and police stations, few senior officials accepted the law. offer.

During an interview, Guaidó defended the proposal for amnesty and declared that his goal was to maintain stability during the transition period. He and his fellow legislators have never intended to allow serious human rights violations to go unpunished, he said.

"The purpose of the amnesty is to allow us to govern in the short term, to stabilize the country in order to face the humanitarian emergency and to rebuild the institutions that can set the stage for free elections and we to help contain the economic crisis, "he said. .

Venezuelan lawmakers have not yet approved the final version of the law, which could be amended in the coming days before the final vote. The National Assembly has failed to enforce the laws that it has adopted in recent years, Maduro and the judges who are loyal to him have taken steps to undermine his authority.

Guaidó has not yet specified how a future government would proceed to investigate the serious violations committed by the current government and punish them.

"There is no easy solution in a country that has been suffering deep wounds for twenty years, there is a lot of pain," Guaidó said. "But we have to find a way to heal, right?"

Earlier this year, several Latin American presidents urged the International Criminal Court in The Hague to consider charging Maduro with crimes against humanity. But as the confrontation between the president and the opposition has intensified in recent days, Guaidó and his most powerful foreign supporter, the United States, have implied that the offer of amnesty could apply to Maduro himself when he resigns power and leaves soon. from the country.

On January 31, John R. Bolton, National Security Advisor, urged Maduro to "seize" the amnesty offer and to exile it as soon as possible. He wished him and his "high councilors a long and peaceful retreat, a beautiful beach far from Venezuela."

The following day, in a radio interview, Bolton raised the possibility that if Maduro did not give up power, he could be imprisoned at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Although the dismissal of the president is not guaranteed at all, the amnesty proposal – which applies not only to the military but to any person in the country who abandons his support to Maduro – has caused many Venezuelans who have suffered under his reign begin to debate the amount they would be willing to forgive for being able to attend a transition.

A recent afternoon, a group of political prisoners who are now at liberty told their experience of time spent behind bars eating pizza in an almost empty restaurant in Caracas. Gregory Sanabria, 24, showed photographs of her beaten face while describing a particularly excruciating torture session.

Ignacio Porras, 48, looked pale as he recounted the horrific nights he had spent hanging on a cable to which the handcuffs that tied his hands behind his back were hung.

Rosa Virginia Gonzalez Arizmendi, 26, recounted how one of the guards who had observed her had put her penis in front of her face, asking her to give him a blowjob and then beat her if she refused.

"These are crimes against humanity," Gonzalez exclaimed. "These are crimes that can not be forgotten."

The three people claimed to have been the subject of an investigation for their activism in opposition parties, which the Maduro government had accused without any evidence of involvement in acts of violence and violence. terrorism. They support the idea of ​​a short-term restricted amnesty, if it helps to ease the transition to democracy, but they would also like a system of accountability to be put in place.

"Forgiving does not mean forgetting, but reconciling," said Gonzalez during a debate on the bill. "Forgive what has happened spiritually, but demand and demand justice."

The parents of Juan Pablo Pernalete, a 20-year-old who was one of dozens of protesters killed during the month of anti-government protests in 2017, complied with Guaidó's recent call to go down the street. . But they were shocked to download the Amnesty Law online and read it carefully.

"The law must be more specific and provide protections for the victims, not for the aggressors," said his father, José Gregorio Pernalete, during an interview at his home, where his son's room remains almost intact .

"There can be no impunity," he said. "There can be no amnesty for crimes against humanity."

* Copyright: 2019 The New York Times News Service