Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez granted amnesty to supporters of a failed CIA coup in 2002 along with several others from US-backed opposition groups who’ve attempted to overthrow the Chavez government in more recent years. The new law, which Chavez read aloud on state television, grants amnesty to those who drafted or signed a decree recognizing the interim government which took control during the coup. “It’s a matter of turning the page,” Chavez said on New Year’s Eve. “We would like a country that moves toward peace.”

President Chavez reiterated that no one in Venezuela is jailed “for his political ideas.” However, he said that the amnesty would not cover, “crimes of the homicide sort, or proven assassination attempts.” It will also not cover fugitives who have fled the country. There are an unknown number of suspects who fled Venezuela after the failed coup. “We want there to be a strong ideological and political debate — but in peace,” Chavez said.

Over 60 people still in the country are expected to be covered by the amnesty, including three police chiefs, a handful of officers, and others accused of trying to sabotage the oil industry. Many of the Venezuelans involved in the 2002 coup have never even been arrested or put on trial. Opposition politician Enrique Mendoza, who stands accused of taking over Venezuela’s state television channel during the two-day-old coup, is also expected to have the charges against him and his co-conspirators nullified. Additional suspects accused of civil rebellion through December of 2007 will also be covered.

So this is the commie dictator we need to fear? Republicans wanted to see opposition President Bill Clinton punished for a blowjob. Chavez, by contrast, is pardoning his political opposition after it staged an actual coup against him. I would say that this is like America, with a plank in its eye, pointing out the splinter in Chavez’s, except that in this scenario there is no splinter. We can’t even relate to the socialist-libertarian frame of mind which seeks to incorporate opposition rather than expel it. In Venezuela, they grant amnesty to suspected conspirators. In America… well, I would tell you about everything we do to suspects, but most of it is a secret and what we do know is now banned from conversation.

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