Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez at the launch of the Coexistence and Peace Program, January 23, 2026. Photo: Presidential Press.
Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez reported that 626 people who had been in prison for their involvement in political violence have been released to date. She noted that far-right sectors have failed to grasp the moment and persist in manipulating the figures through lies.
On Friday, January 23, during the launch meeting of the Coexistence and Peace Program, Rodríguez announced that next Monday, she will hold a telephone call with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Völker Turk, to request that his office verify the lists of released prisoners. “Enough of lies that have led us to extreme consequences, enough of lying to our people on social media, enough of these algorithms that try to spread fear, terrorism, and death,” she stated. “There must be accountability in the practice of politics. Therefore, yesterday, I called for the reinstitutionalization of the political process.”
She also urged members of the Coexistence and Peace Program to work to isolate the “anti-political right-wing sectors.” “We are fed up with these extremists and fascists who only seek to harm our people,” she said. “Our work must be very arduous through education and culture.”
She added that another key aspect of this program is to eradicate social, political, and economic expressions that incite hatred, as “actions and expressions filled with intolerance have compromised national independence and sovereignty by kneeling and offering our country and its riches.” Thus, she urged the promotion of peace and coexistence programs in all sectors of Venezuela.
Call for dialogue
Rodríguez called on the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, in his capacity as president of the Council of Sovereignty and Peace, to convene a meeting with all political sectors of the country, both supporters and opponents, and to call for a genuine political dialogue with concrete and immediate results. “It must be a Venezuelan dialogue in which external dictates will not be imposed. Not from Washington, Bogotá, or Madrid. No. It will be a national dialog for the common good of Venezuela,” she said.
Call for review of the justice system
The acting president also called for “opening the floodgates for reflection on Venezuela’s justice system.” She invited all sectors—academics and non-academics, communes and communal councils, justices of the peace, and the neighborhood movement—to consider a justice model that “does not penalize poverty. This is an urgent request.”
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100-day plan
At the launch of the Coexistence and Peace Program, the acting president asked its members to develop a 100-day plan to consolidate social stability and harmony. To that end, they have to create a detailed document on political, economic, and social violence and hatred. “It is necessary to conduct a survey to determine where we are starting from and to identify where social justice stands,” she said.
She underscored that the country is facing an unprecedented aggression, with unilateral, illicit coercive measures that have inflicted significant social wounds on the country.
During the event, Rodríguez announced the composition of the groups constituting the Coexistence and Peace Program:
- Coordination: Ernesto Villegas (General Coordinator) and Ana María Sanjuán (Executive Secretary).
- Executive Cabinet: Nuramy Gutiérrez (Health), Ángel Prado (Communes), and Larry Devoe (Human Rights).
- Academic and Political Sector: Michael Penfold (IESA), Francisco Garcés (UCV), Génesis Garvett (National Assembly Deputy), and Indira Urbaneja (Analyst).
- Private and Social Sector: Ricardo Cusanno (Fedecámaras), Gerson Gómez (Ridery), Lanking González (Neighborhood Movement), Gustavo Canchica (Justice for Peace), and Miqueas Figueroa (Tiuna Fort).
(Últimas Noticias) by Odry Farnetano
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
