Venezuela’s Machado says ally kidnapped by ‘heavily armed men’ after prison release

Venezuela’s Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado said on Monday that armed men “kidnapped” a close ally shortly after his release by authorities, following ex-leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture. The country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed later that same day that former National Assembly vice-president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, was again taken into custody and put under house arrest, arguing that he violated the conditions of his release. Guanipa would be placed under house arrest “in order to safeguard the criminal process,” the office said in a statement on Monday. The conditions of Guanipa’s release have yet to be made public. “Heavily armed men, dressed in civilian clothes, arrived in four vehicles and violently took him away,” Machado posted on X. “We demand his immediate release.” URGENT International Alert A few minutes ago, Juan Pablo Guanipa was kidnapped in the Los Chorros neighborhood of Caracas. Heavily armed men dressed in civilian clothes arrived in four vehicles and took him away by force. We demand his immediate release. — María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) February 9, 2026 The arrest came after his release from prison on Sunday along with two other opposition figures, and as lawmakers prepared to vote on Tuesday on a historic amnesty law covering charges used to lock up dissidents in almost three decades of socialist rule. Shortly after his release, Guanipa visited several detention centres in Caracas, where he met with relatives of political prisoners and spoke to the press. Guanipa had appeared earlier Sunday in a video posted on his X account, showing what looked like his release papers. “Here we are, being released,” Guanipa said in the video, adding that he had spent “10 months in hiding, almost nine months detained here” in Caracas. Speaking to Agence France-Presse later on Sunday, he had called on the government to respect the 2024 presidential election, which opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was widely considered to have won. Maduro claimed victory and remained in power until January. “Let’s respect it. That’s the basic thing, that’s the logical thing. Oh, you don’t want to respect it? Then let’s go to an electoral process,” Guanipa said. The opposition ally of Machado was arrested in May 2025, in connection with an alleged conspiracy to undermine legislative and regional elections that were boycotted by the opposition. He was charged with terrorism, money laundering and incitement to violence and hatred. Guanipa had been in hiding prior to his arrest. He was last seen in public in January 2025, when he accompanied Machado to an anti-Maduro rally. Following Maduro’s capture by US special forces on January 3, authorities have started to slowly release political prisoners. Rights groups estimate that around 700 people were still waiting to be freed. A former Machado legal adviser, Perkins Rocha, was also freed on Sunday. So was Freddy Superlano, who once won a gubernatorial election in Barinas, a city that is the home turf of the iconic late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. “We hugged at home,” Rocha’s wife Maria Constanza Cipriani wrote on X, with a photo of them. Machado, who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela, had initially celebrated Guanipa’s release. “My dear Juan Pablo, counting down the minutes until I can hug you! You are a hero, and history will ALWAYS recognize it. Freedom for ALL political prisoners!!” she wrote on X on Sunday. NGO Foro Penal said it had confirmed the release of 35 prisoners on Sunday. It said that since January 8 nearly 400 people arrested for political reasons have been freed thus far. Lawmakers gave their initial backing to a draft amnesty last week which covered the types of crimes used to lock up dissidents during 27 years of socialist rule. But Venezuela’s largest opposition coalition denounced “serious omissions” in the proposed amnesty measures on Friday. Meanwhile, relatives of prisoners are growing increasingly impatient for their loved ones to be freed. Acting president Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s vice-president, was pushing the amnesty bill as a milestone on the path to reconciliation. Rodriguez took power in Venezuela with the blessing of US President Donald Trump, who is eyeing American access to what are the world’s largest proven oil reserves. As part of its reforms, Rodriguez’s government has taken steps towards opening up the oil industry and restoring diplomatic ties with Washington, which were severed by Maduro in 2019.

Venezuela’s Machado says ally kidnapped by ‘heavily armed men’ after prison release

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Juan Pablo Guanipa was ‘violently’ taken away, hours after his release from prison, opposition leader says

Juan Pablo Guanipa was ‘violently’ taken away, hours after his release from prison, opposition leader says