Is Venezuela Ready to Move On? || Feb. 3, 2026

Another famous general amnesty was the burying of hatchets in classical Athens right after the Peloponnesian War. After that city was broken by the Spartan-led alliance in 405 BC, a set of oligarchs called the Thirty Tyrants had a two-year rein of totalitarian terror until a group of Athenian exiles overthrew them. In the aftermath, the "Amnesty of 403" restored democracy and pardoned all factions (except the tyrants themselves, who were exiled). Journalist IF Stone dug into this matter in his final book "The Trial of Socrates", noting first that it was notable that all parties kept the piece and honored the agreement -- except he found hints and patterns of evidence that the real reason for Socrates's 399 BC trial, and eventual execution when he refused exile, was not "corrupting the youth of Athens and workshipping foreign gods" as the usual story has it, but rather too blatantly trying to encourage and forment another oligarchic coup, as he had the first one. (Our sources about Socrates are his students, and Stone thinks there was a good bit of revisionism at work.)

That is excellent news. Three or four weeks ago Mr. Zeihan was predicting famine and starvation in Venezuela "within several weeks, possibly as soon as the first of February." Has that been postponed?

Time will tell how far this amnesty thing goes. Given Venezuela's history, there is a long way to go. I doubt we will see a truth and reconciliation thing happen though. What happens with the oil reserves is another question. The US companies that haven't been doing business with Venezuela since nationalization want nothing to do with this country. Even if the rule of law existed, along with enforceable contracts existed, the US is a leading oil exporter. I can't see what the advantage is for the United States.

Very interesting. I knew about the "reconciliation" thing, but I didn't know the details. What a concept. It's sort of like the Catholic thing about "penance" which is also called "reconciliation". Maybe that's a good thing to try.

I give a lot of credit to Marco Rubio for leading this operation. There have been multiple theories on how to remove the regime, they all ended with the conclusion that it was not possible without brutal force. Is a very clever and well thoughout strategy, brilliantly simple. Allow the regime to remain politically viable if they cooperate, otherwise suffer the consequences and force them to go underground for the next couple of decades. With this approach, you maintain all sides interested in maintaining a viable economy and a political future. Chavismo is driven by ideology, many get confused that is money driven but is not (at least not for many of them at the head), they know they lost this battle, time for them to regroup. Elections are the next major step, if they continue cooperating, maybe they'll get a few seats in congress.

My goodness, my goodness, my goodness. Indirectly, you're almost acknowledging that Donald Trump did something good in his removal of Nicolás Maduro, allowing this woman to take charge and carry out these acts of political reconciliation. Wow, did pigs just fly?

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

At least a good chance for the Venezuelans to make their country better.

South Africa does not have a democracy problem? It has always had problems with democracy from what I hear.

Amnesty.... coming soon to a country near you.

It would be interesting to see what happens once Nicolas Maduro gets released back into Venezuela. This is actually likely given how controversial Operation Absolute Resolve has been.

Well, no one‘s talking about the Epstein files/tapes anymore.

Wow! Finally, a feel good story! Thank you Peter! Oh! and look! Gold and Silver are up today! Coincidence? I think not!

For those who prefer Video.... here the 60 Minutes TV program on TRC in South Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY-ee1hhghQ

Here is the wiki on how it was done in South Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)

Peter is optimistic. Peter is wearing a hat. Coincidence? Or are the deep state's gamma rays just not hitting his brain?

How can be there a reconciliation if the proposal comes from the very power that made this reconciliation a requirement ? Unless current president got some Christmas Carol moment or have qualities of Mandela , I do not see how that possibly can happen. And I do not think current Venezuelan government is either of those. On the other hand , things stranger than that happed to people and countries, so let’s wait and see, can’t do much about it anyways.

“Hope springs eternal from the human breast” https://youtu.be/T0J2T_9AUuk?si=iQfN8MRgp-wVKXsB I just wonder if Tulsi Gabbard was chatting with Rodriguez on her cell phone when they grabbed those boxes of ballots in Georgia last week.

What's being said and reported about Venezuela doesn't seem real or even possible to me. It's like we are being spoon-fed some kind of CIA-generated fantasy. Trump has stopped talking about VZ, why? Is the USA still blowing up dope boats? That story has vaporized. Oil deals fall into place with seemingly no effort and no problems. How is that? Why no stories about Maduro? Something is not right here. The narrative seems very tightly controlled. Tomorrow’s headline: "School children dance in the street to celebrate El Jefe' Trumpo..."?

In order to effectively initiate reconciliation, they have get rid of the proxy cuban apparatus that has been entrenched in Venezuela since the early days of Hugo Chavez who didn’t trust his own Venezuelan associates for security or policy. Instead, Chavez had this weird bromance with Fidel Castro and his regime. The fact that so many Cubans security personnel were killed during the extraction of Maduro is no accident. This is a very sensitive and delicate time for Venezuela to have a rebirth. Like Peter says, let’s hope they don’t f*ck it up.

This is a week old or so, and shows a different pov of Venezuela’s prison situation, maybe it’s outdated. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/26/families-venezuela-political-prisoners-waiting-release?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email And like, if it’s a blanket amnesty, does that mean my buddy Herbert can get back to his very lucrative business of moving fentanyl through the country and into the U.S.? I mean, sure, kinda sucks for his last 100 or so subcontractors who got blown up on boats, but… if we’re forgiving the crimes of the past, doesn’t that mean your innocent until proven guilty, again?

Thanks Peter. My wife Daniela is Venezuelan and we are watching events closely and we are cautiously optimistic as well. Talking with family, things have been pretty normal and stable inside Venezuela. Rubio might be pulling off something brilliant here. Fingers crossed 🤞

Kinda-Yeeeah. Big-Time! ... 😐 Good Won ... 👌👍