CARACAS, Feb 1 — Venezuela's announcement of amnesty for political prisoners and the closure of a notorious detention center has bolstered hopes that a quarter century of state repression is coming to an end.

Less than a month after the United States ousted leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3, his former vice president Delcy Rodriguez has gone further than expected by critics toward restoring the rule of law, as sought by Washington.

"We are free!" the relatives of political prisoners camped outside Rodeo 1 prison near Caracas chanted on Friday after the announcement of an amnesty for all political prisoners detained since 1999, when Maduro's firebrand socialist mentor Hugo Chavez came to power.

Zoraida Gonzalez, 64, was among those rejoicing.

"I felt that I was free and that the whole country was free!" she told AFP.

The last few days have yielded signs that the fear that permeated Venezuelan society over the past two decades is starting to dissipate.

Fear has been defeated

On Tuesday, opposition activist Delsa Solorzano re-emerged from hiding after 17 months.

"We believe Venezuela is in a new phase, and I think the entire country feels that," the 54-year-old former lawmaker told AFP.

In other scenes unthinkable just a month ago, a student engaged Rodriguez in an argument on the street over the slow pace of prisoner releases.

Student leader Miguelangel Suarez upbraided Rodriguez over "what families are going through outside detention centers" since the government on January 8 announced plans for large-scale prisoner releases, but only freed inmates at a trickle.

Venezuelans meanwhile were also treated on Wednesday to the unusual spectacle of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado bashing Rodriguez live on pro-government TV after a meeting in Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"Fear has been defeated," said Maria Isabel Centeno, an international relations graduate, describing a "before and after January 3."

Centeno credited students, civil society groups and the families of political prisoners with "opening this breach...which allowed us to feel less afraid."

 A before and after 

Opposition MP Tomas Guanipa is among those struggling to come to terms with the bewildering pace of change in the weeks since US forces snatched Maduro from a Caracas compound and whisked him to the United States to face trial.

"Who would have thought a month ago that we would be experiencing what we are experiencing today," an amazed Guanipa, who has one brother in prison and another under house arrest, told AFP.

"May this be a process that leads us to a democratic transition," he said.

Rodriguez has been walking a diplomatic tightrope -- trying to meet US demands without alienating Maduro loyalists in her administration.

So far, she has taken no steps toward new elections.

Pablo Quintero, a political analyst, said that it was "premature" to speak of far-reaching change.

But US pressure on Rodriguez's administration means that "the cost of silencing dissent through persecution and imprisonment is very high" he said.

The shadow of Chavez 

The last years of former bus driver Maduro's rule were marked by worsening repression and paranoia, peaking with a crackdown after July 2024 elections he is widely believed to have stolen.

Gonzalez's son was 23 when he and his girlfriend were arrested in 2019 over an attempted drone attack on Maduro.

"We've been living under repression for 25 years. We have been persecuted and intimidated....my son is innocent," she insisted.

Outside Zona 7, another prison in Caracas, 65-year-old Alicia Rojas, whose husband was detained in November on terrorism charges was heartened by the amnesty announcement.

But she said that she remained fearful because "you never know when...the neighbor could" report you to the authorities.

On the prison wall behind her, a mural of Chavez, with hooded eyes, served as a reminder of the state's omnipotence.

"Oligarchs, tremble! Long live liberty," it proclaimed. — AFP