The Revolution's Calls for Peace (1)

Published at: 20/02/2026 06:18 PM

Once again, Chavism offers a window to maintain national peace, and to this end, it proposes a new Amnesty Law to promote coexistence based on diversity and plurality, always with respect for the law and justice, based on the need to propose another opportunity to live in peace and tranquility in Venezuela .

This is not the case now, since President Hugo Chávez won the presidency, the call to keep the peace and for real politics to be done has been permanent. This is how in 1999, with regard to the constitutional referendum, he called for maintaining the path of peace and warned that instability can be dangerous in the midst of a process of reconstruction.

Chávez defended the constituent process and the powers of the Assembly to reorganize public powers and stressed that “given the crisis in which Venezuela finds itself, the only peaceful path was to convene a sovereign Constituent Assembly that is not subordinate to the constituted powers.”

President Chávez recalled that “the process of political change takes place along a peaceful, broad and democratic path, unlike other countries where changes are generated with violence, fratricidal wars to try to get out of horrible situations.”

In April 2002, when the opposition staged a coup d'etat and kidnapped the president, after his reinstatement on April 13, 2002, Chávez adopted a position of dialogue and a “call for reflection” towards the opposition, including a speech of conciliation. However, political tensions continued, intensifying with the oil strike at the end of that same year and all of 2003.

During Chávez's term in office, there were occasional pardons, framed in attempts to reduce polarization following episodes of political instability. Even in 2004, after winning the referendum, he urged the opposition to work together.

Throughout his term of office, President Chávez granted measures of grace to opponents at key moments, the most significant episode being the Amnesty Act of 2007. On December 31 of that year, he issued an Amnesty decree that benefited people prosecuted for the 2002 coup d'etat, the oil strike of 2002-2003 and other events of political confrontation. This measure included those who signed the “Carmona Decree” and those who were entitled to it at the time.

Another goodwill gesture were the Christmas pardons of 2011; at that time, President Chávez granted pardons to 141 people, including some cases that the opposition considered political, but also included ordinary prisoners and for humanitarian reasons , such as serious illnesses.

Even after celebrating electoral victories, Chávez used an “ outstretched hand” speech calling for dialogue, although this did not always translate into immediate legal decrees of forgiveness. However, the benefits of pardons and amnesties used to exclude crimes against humanity or serious human rights violations. On the other hand, the opposition continued to denounce the existence of political prisoners and exiles until the end of their term in 2013.

After the death of President Chávez, the opposition resumed the path of violence with the organization of guarimbas in an environment of instability to seize power by force. Faced with this, and after winning the presidential elections in 2014, President Nicolás Maduro convened a Peace Conference, to resume national coexistence. For the time being, the opposition promoted a shortage of consumer products, which produced discontent in communities and urged them, through students, to burn down the streets and create social discontent.

In 2016, the National Assembly approved the Amnesty and National Reconciliation Act, which, in its first article, reads as follows: “The purpose of this Act is to lay the foundations for national reconciliation and social peace through the amnesty of acts considered crimes, misdemeanors or infractions that are indicated in this Act and other measures contemplated here”. Article 5 of this Act states that “Amnesty is granted for crimes or misdemeanors committed or considered to have been committed between December 3, 2007 and December 31, 2015”.

The same Act specified in its article 6 the following: “amnesty is granted for all those persons investigated, accused, accused or convicted as perpetrators or participants in carrying out actions for political purposes that correspond to punishable acts of public incitement; public intimidation; incitement to commit crimes; violence or resistance to authority; disobedience to authority; obstruction of public roads; damage to property; fire; manufacturing, carrying, detaining, supply or concealment of explosive or incendiary devices; outrage against a public official; criminal association; agavillation; conspiracy; treason; civil or military rebellion; incitement to civil or military rebellion; insubordination; breaches of military decorum; attack and outrage against the sentinel or other related punishable acts”.

Later, in June 2018, President Maduro, at a meeting held at the presidential palace, stated that “today, at my request as head of state, a group of opposition leaders and militants who had committed crimes of political violence between the years 2014, 2015, 2016 and in the guarimbas of 2017 were released. I hope that those released from prison will come out with a message of peace and good will; those who conspire against the Government and seek ways outside the constitution to violate the peace will be punished.”

At the same meeting, President Maduro explained that “a first group has already received the benefits of this pacification policy that I want to take to the broadest level, I want a pacification process, these releases are a solid and firm attempt for the reunion and reconciliation of Venezuelans.”

Again, in 2019, the Venezuelan president, in a telephone contact with the swearing-in assembly of the Political Vanguard of Youth of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (JPSUV) stated “I have called for national dialogue for peace more than 600 times. I ask for the support of the entire country to reach agreements for peace. We will continue to move forward!”

On that occasion, the president reaffirmed his commitment to the path of dialogue, reason and truth for national well-being in order to move forward in the midst of the difficulties imposed by the U.S. government against the Venezuelan people. He also reiterated his gratitude to the Government of Norway for its support for the Peace Dialogue, undertaken by the Bolivarian Government with the national right, “several times we have managed to sit down with the opposition, at tables for conversation, work, dialogue, negotiation to seek agreements, 80% of the population agrees with dialogue and conciliation between the Government and the Venezuelan opposition, and this can contribute to the resolution of problems, especially in the area economic”.

AMELYREN BASABE/Mazo News Team