A “revolving door” for prisoners?
For Armas, the joy of returning home was dampened by the fear of continued persecution.
The problems primarily began after he served as the organizer of Venezuela’s opposition during the disputed 2024 presidential election.
Protesters had accused the vote of fraud after Maduro’s government did not officially announce the election results. Meanwhile, the opposition released evidence suggesting its candidate won by a significant margin.
As a result, the government began a thorough crackdown on dissidents.
In December 2024, Mr. Armas was arrested. He said he was taken to a house, blindfolded, tied to a chair for several days and suffocated with a plastic bag.
He then shared a rat and dingy cell with dozens of other prisoners. Once he was transferred to El Helicoid, friends and family had no contact with him for 10 months.
However, his release did not mean freedom. On the day he was released from prison, he celebrated by participating in a motorcycle parade with Juan Pablo Guanipa, a prominent politician who was also released.
Armas recalls feeling a sense of energy and optimism when visiting the families of other political prisoners. But within hours, Guanipa was abducted by masked individuals. No one knew where he was taken.
“I was so scared I couldn’t sleep,” he said. I spent the first night home lying in bed and checking the news about Guanipa.
“I was full of adrenaline and mixed emotions. I was happy because I was with my parents, but I was also scared.”
Authorities have accused Mr. Guanipa of violating the terms of his release, but it is not clear what those restrictions are. After being isolated for hours, he was placed on an electronic ankle monitor and placed under house arrest.
Guanipa was released from house arrest only after the amnesty bill was passed on Thursday, according to a statement from his brother Thomas Guanipa.
Still, Guanipa himself warned that the amnesty law would not end the government’s repressive tactics. He highlighted its exclusions and loopholes.
“What was approved by the Legislature today is not a pardon,” Guanipa wrote on social media after his second release in less than two weeks.
“This is an incomplete document intended to intimidate many innocent Venezuelans and excludes several brothers and sisters who have been unjustly locked up in prison.”
For Tineo, cases of rearrest like Guanipa’s show that Venezuela is not serious about ending government repression.
“As long as judicial restrictions on those released remain and the ‘revolving door’ practice of new detentions after release continues, the policy of persecution cannot be said to have come to an end,” she said.
