Why Venezuela moves towards freeing political prisoners
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Venezuela, families of political prisoners have been rallying outside the Supreme Court in Caracas, chanting for the release of their loved ones. Lawmakers in the country have approved the first step of an amnesty bill introduced by the interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, in a move towards freeing hundreds of opposition politicians, journalists and human rights activists detained under previous governments.
Also: scandal in Norway as police launch corruption investigation into the former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland's ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Scientists in China find a potential alternative to conventional cervical cancer tests. We find out how South Africa's fight against HIV has been affected by the sweeping cuts to the United States foreign aid programme. Finland becomes the latest country to adopt a priority traffic system, allowing lights to turn green for emergency vehicles. How a previously unknown Michelangelo drawing became an auction sensation. And - why ski jumpers are being accused of a very unusual form of cheating in the run-up to the Winter Olympics.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.8 | I'm Keith Adams, and in the early hours of Friday the 6th of February, these are our main stories. |
| 0:18.0 | Lawmakers in Venezuela advance an amnesty bill for hundreds of political prisoners, |
| 0:23.1 | a central demand by opposition figures and the United States. Scandal in Norway, after several |
| 0:29.4 | high society figures, are found in the Epstein files, a former prime minister is now being |
| 0:34.6 | investigated by the police, and have scientists in China found a less invasive way to test for cervical cancer. |
| 0:44.5 | Also in this podcast, more material, you know, a greater surface area in the suit, it can quite dramatically affect how far a ski jumper can fly. |
| 0:55.6 | Controversy at the Winter Olympics, the strange way some ski jumpers might be cheating. |
| 1:05.6 | We start this podcast in Venezuela. |
| 1:08.5 | Justice! Justice! Justice and liberty! All are innocent. No! this podcast in Venezuela. |
| 1:21.0 | Those chants come from outside Venezuela's Supreme Court in Caracas, where families of political prisoners were calling for their release on Thursday evening. |
| 1:25.2 | Earlier lawmakers unanimously backed a bill introduced by the country's interim leader |
| 1:29.8 | Delci Rodriguez, marking a first step towards freeing hundreds of opposition figures, journalists, |
| 1:36.3 | and human rights activists. Among those watching was Manuel Labrador, whose father, a former |
| 1:41.7 | regional lawmaker, has been imprisoned since 2024. |
| 1:47.0 | This gives us a lot of hope amid the uncertainty. |
| 1:50.0 | It has given us more hope and strength to continue with this struggle that we all share. |
| 1:55.0 | There are people here whose relatives have been unjustly imprisoned for years, |
| 1:59.0 | and today we want everyone to be free, not just a few, |
| 2:02.0 | but all of us, with our relatives back on the streets. Well, BBC Monitoring's Latin America |
| 2:08.1 | analyst Louis Fahardo has been following developments from Miami. As you mentioned, it is a first step |
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