Delcy Rodríguez, acting president of Venezuela, formally requested the National Assembly to partially reform the Constitutional Law against Hate, for Peaceful Coexistence and Tolerance, a regulation she passionately defended in 2017, when she was presiding over the Chavista Constituent National Assembly.
The request was recorded in a letter on presidential letterhead dated Monday and addressed to the deputy Jorge Rodríguez Gómez, president of the National Assembly and brother of Delcy.
This Tuesday, the acting president shared this on her X account with the message: “We continue taking steps towards a new phase of civic coexistence in Venezuela.”
The content of the letter
In the letter, Rodríguez argues that "the requested reform aims to advance the decriminalization of the behaviors outlined in the aforementioned normative instrument, as part of the actions taken by the National Government to transform the criminal justice system of our country and promote democratic reconciliation and coexistence."
He also requested that the initiative be addressed "as a matter of urgency" and pointed out that the reform will generate "a positive impact on the rebuilding of trust in institutions and the revitalization of the democratic life of the Nation".
The request does not propose the complete repeal of the law, but rather a “partial reform”, a proposal that has been challenged by organizations demanding the total repeal of the regulation.
A law passed amid repression
The Constitutional Law Against Hatred was approved on November 8, 2017, by the chavista National Constituent Assembly, during the height of the political crisis following the anti-government protests of that year, which resulted in approximately 125 deaths.
It was Nicolás Maduro himself who introduced the project, declaring that the time had come to "punish hate crimes and intolerance in all its forms of expression."
The law, criticized from its inception by opponents and human rights and freedom of expression organizations as a tool for censorship, establishes penalties of up to 20 years in prison for inciting hatred or violence, mandates the removal of social media messages within six hours under threat of fines, and empowers the State to close media outlets and revoke the registration of political parties.
Delcy Rodríguez herself, then president of the Constituent Assembly, was one of its main defenders.
“Promotion is prohibited; you must remove the messages that promote hate, war, and intolerance within six hours. If not, you will be subject to penalties,” he declared at that time.
The twist following Maduro's capture
After the capture of Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026, the Venezuelan government was led by Rodríguez.
In February, within the framework of the approval of the Amnesty Law, Jorge Rodríguez had already acknowledged that there were "situations of misuse" of the law and anticipated that it was "very likely" to be subject to reform.
It was not until this Monday that the Executive formalized that request.
The request comes days after Delcy Rodríguez met with Donald Trump in New York, an encounter she herself described as "historic," and after she promised before the UN a "structured legal reform" and a "democratic transformation" in Venezuela.
Organizations demand more than just a reform
The figures documented by human rights organizations contrast with the official narrative. Provea documented at least 40 judicial charges, 36 arbitrary detentions, and three sentences of over 10 years for opinion-related offenses under this law between January 2024 and October 2025.
Amnesty International warned that the mechanisms of repression "have not changed" structurally, with between 379 and 500 people detained for political reasons and 64 new cases of documented torture since January 2026.
The National Union of Press Workers demanded the total repeal of the regulation, not just a simple partial reform, to halt what the organization considers the criminalization of journalism in Venezuela.
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