Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress upheld a campaign promise and approved an amnesty law late Tuesday that is likely to deepen an institutional standoff with President Nicolas Maduro. Voting across party lines, the National Assembly passed the Law of National Amnesty and Reconciliation, aimed at freeing dozens of jailed politicians and activists, many of whom were imprisoned during a wave of anti-government protests two years ago. The ruling socialists decried the bill as a grant of blanket-freedom to “coup mongers” and have pledged to block its passage. “This law has not been made so that those who committed crimes in 2014 will not be punished, on the contrary, this law is made to give justice to the country,” opposition Popular Will deputy Juan Andres Mejia said during the debate. The central plank of the opposition’s landslide victory in last year’s congressional elections was a pledge to secure freedom for President Maduro’s […]