Acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez meets with victims of political violence at Miraflores Palace in the context of Amnesty Law approval. Photo: Prensa Presidencial.
The Latin American Foundation for Human Rights and Social Development, Fundalatin, has documented 270 deaths and more than 3,000 injuries resulting from political violence in recorded Venezuela between 2002 and 2019— acts of violence promoted by sectors that rejected the Constitution of the Republic.
The details were provided this Monday, February 23, by the president of Fundalatin, María Eugenia Russián, during a meeting led by the acting president Delcy Rodríguez with the victims and relatives of the different stages of political violence in the country to thank them for their participation in the implementation of the Amnesty Law for Democratic Coexistence, which was sanctioned and promulgated on Thursday, February 19.
Russián emphasized that since 2002, the non-governmental organization she leads has supported victims of both political violence and the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the U.S. government against Venezuela.
“They are victims of both the sanctions and the violence that erupted in the country when different groups, refusing to recognize the Constitution, turned to violence,” she said.
She noted that, together with the victims, they have consistently affirmed: “You cannot heal the wounds of some only to reopen the wounds of others. We always insist that, under the Amnesty Law, perpetrators must commit to the victims by offering public apologies and ensuring that those painful events—which our country endured and which cost so many Venezuelan families dearly—are never repeated.”
