CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — At least 1,557 people held in Venezuela for political reasons have submitted their applications under an amnesty bill that was signed into law this week and are expected to be released from prison, authorities said Saturday.
Thursday’s measure is expected to benefit opposition members, activists, human rights defenders, journalists and many others detained for months or even years.
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Relatives of detainees they say are held for political reasons wait outside El Helicoide, headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and a detention center, after the National Assembly approved an amnesty bill in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Crisitian Hernandez)
Relatives of detainees they say are held for political reasons wait outside El Helicoide, headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and a detention center, after the National Assembly approved an amnesty bill in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Crisitian Hernandez)
Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez holds up an amnesty bill approved by the National Assembly alongside Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez walks back into Miraflores Palace after signing an amnesty bill approved by the National Assembly in front of journalists in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Relatives of detainees they say are held for political reasons wait outside El Helicoide, the headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and a detention center, after the National Assembly approved an amnesty bill in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Crisitian Hernandez)
Its approval marked a reversal for Venezuelan authorities, who for decades have denied holding any political prisoners. It follows last month’s stunning U.S. military raid in the country’s capital, Caracas, to capture then-President Nicolás Maduro.
“As of today, 1,152 new applications have been received, for a total of 1,557 that are being addressed immediately, and at this moment hundreds of releases of persons deprived of liberty who are benefiting from the Amnesty Law are already taking place,” National Assembly leader Jorge Rodríguez said on Saturday.
Earlier, the president of the special commission overseeing the amnesty law, Jorge Arreaza, said Friday night on state television that 379 amnesty requests had been received and that the applicants’ releases would take place between Friday and Saturday. Further releases could be granted within 15 days, he said.
Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of Venezuela-based prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal, told The Associated Press on Saturday that so far some have been released in the state of Barinas, in the southwest of the country, but the process of verifying releases under the amnesty was still ongoing.
The new law excludes those convicted of homicide, drug trafficking, serious human rights violations and military rebellion.
Human rights organizations are calling for the law to be applied to all prisoners held for political reasons, even if they are not listed among the beneficiaries.
“It is discriminatory and unconstitutional to exclude imprisoned military personnel and persecuted political figures,” Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, said on X Saturday. Without this, “there can be no talk of national coexistence,” he said.
Rodríguez said that thousands of requests are being processed from “individuals who were under alternative measures to the system of deprivation of liberty,” and that they are likewise covered by the recently approved Amnesty Law.
Delcy Rodríguez, acting president of Venezuela since Jan. 5, said during the signing of the law that it showed that the country’s political leaders were “letting go of a little intolerance and opening new avenues for politics in Venezuela.”
The bill’s purpose is to grant people “a general and full amnesty for crimes or offenses committed” during specific periods since 1999 that were marked by politically driven conflicts in Venezuela, including “acts of politically motivated violence” in the context of the 2024 presidential election. The aftermath of that election led to protests and the arrest of more than 2,000 people, including minors.
In the days after Maduro’s Jan. 3 capture, Rodríguez’s government announced it would release a significant number of prisoners. However, relatives and human rights watchdogs have criticized the slow pace of releases and the restrictive conditions under which many have been placed after leaving prison.
Venezuela-based nonprofit Justice, Encounter and Forgiveness has tallied 459 releases of detainees held for political reasons between Jan. 8 and Feb. 20.
Relatives of detainees they say are held for political reasons wait outside El Helicoide, headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and a detention center, after the National Assembly approved an amnesty bill in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Crisitian Hernandez)
Relatives of detainees they say are held for political reasons wait outside El Helicoide, headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and a detention center, after the National Assembly approved an amnesty bill in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Crisitian Hernandez)
Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez holds up an amnesty bill approved by the National Assembly alongside Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez walks back into Miraflores Palace after signing an amnesty bill approved by the National Assembly in front of journalists in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Relatives of detainees they say are held for political reasons wait outside El Helicoide, the headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and a detention center, after the National Assembly approved an amnesty bill in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Crisitian Hernandez)
TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.
“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.
The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.
Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.
Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.
“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”
Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.
“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”
The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting to fly them off the island, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.
Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.
Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.
According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infections diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.
The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.
As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.
Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.
On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.
It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.
Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.
A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
