The Anti-Hate Law Reform Now Has a Text. Prison Becomes a Fine — Enforced by the Interior Ministry.

Three weeks ago we wrote about the acting president’s request to decriminalize the 2017 Anti-Hate Law, and said the thing to watch was the text. There is now a text. It has cleared the Supreme Tribunal. It has not been voted.

What the reform says

According to the reporting of El Diario and El Pitazo — the Tribunal’s own decision was not available on its website when we checked — the reform renames the statute, defines “hate speech,” and replaces the criminal penalty in what was Article 20 with an administrative fine of 500 to 10,000 times the official exchange rate of the highest-valued currency published by the Central Bank, with 200 to 600 hours of community service that may be imposed instead of, or alongside, the fine. It states that “en ningún caso” will the conduct described give rise to custodial measures. It carves out political opinion, the exercise of free expression, and journalism that does not contain “una incitación directa e inequívoca.”

Two features deserve attention. The sanctioning authority, as reported, is the ministry with competence in justice — the Interior Ministry, run by Diosdado Cabello, whose views on Venezuelan asylum seekers we covered last month. And while the text, as Espacio Público reports it, drops the revocation of broadcast concessions and the blocking of web portals, it keeps the obligation on platforms to remove content immediately without a court order, and the State’s power to order the broadcast of its own messages. Espacio Público and Acceso a la Justicia continue to argue the law should be repealed, not amended.

Where it stands

The Tribunal’s ruling is a precondition, not an enactment. The reform still needs the National Assembly’s approval — by two-thirds of its members, according to the Assembly’s president. As of this writing no vote has been scheduled. Foro Penal counted 322 political prisoners as of October 5; whether any of the 927 people it reported at the end of September as having been accused under this law since 2017 will see their cases reviewed is not addressed by the text as reported.

For a pending case

The analysis we gave in September holds. A reform that becomes law would be cited as a changed condition, and the record should be ready for it. The same reform keeps the content-removal and compelled-broadcast powers in place, moves enforcement to the ministry that commands the police, and does nothing about the terrorism, conspiracy and treason charges that are the instruments actually being used in 2026. And for a person who was prosecuted under the old Article 20, the government’s decision to abolish the prison term is a statement about what that prosecution was.

This article is general legal information about a reported legislative development, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The reform text described here is drawn from press reporting; the Tribunal's decision was not available at the source when checked. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your own case. This website is attorney advertising.