Machado had earlier denounced his “kidnapping.” Shortly afterward, the prosecutor’s office clarified that it was a new arrest for violating the conditions of his release, which in part prevents him from speaking publicly about his case. Guanipa was one of the most prominent opposition leaders still imprisoned. He worked alongside the opposition leader in the campaign leading up to the presidential elections and was arrested two days after Maduro’s disputed re-election. According to their data, there have been nearly 400 releases since January 8, when Rodríguez announced the first round of releases. “They took him away violently,” the Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated. The Prosecutor’s Office stated that it asked the court to impose a house arrest regime on Guanipa, detained on May 23, 2025, linked to an alleged conspiracy against the election of governors and deputies to Parliament. Machado reported that Guanipa was arrested by “heavily armed men in civilian clothes.” “They violently took him away.” His son, Ramón Guanipa, demanded proof of life. “I believe this has to end with respect for the will of the Venezuelan people,” Guanipa told AFP shortly after being released from prison. Other leaders close to Machado were also released. Earlier, Machado celebrated the releases. “Very soon we will meet and embrace in a free Venezuela, and we will thank these heroes for everything they have given to make Venezuela the country we deserve.” Venezuela: Juan Pablo Guanipa was free for less than 12 hours. He was removed from office. His last public appearance was on January 9, 2025, to accompany Machado to a rally against Maduro’s inauguration. “We are going into an electoral process,” Guanipa was vice president of Parliament and governor-elect of the oil-rich state of Zulia, but he refused to be sworn in before a Constituent Assembly established by Maduro that was exercising the functions of Parliament, which was then controlled by the opposition. Perkins Rocha, Machado’s legal advisor and delegate of the country’s largest opposition coalition, was also released on Sunday with “very strict” precautionary measures, his wife, María Constanza Cipriani, indicated on her X account. Rocha had been imprisoned for a year and a half. He was arrested on August 27, 2024, amid a wave of arrests carried out after Maduro’s disputed re-election. “May God bless us,” Machado said in an audio message on X. Machado left Venezuela to receive the Nobel Prize in December, after spending more than a year in hiding. President Delcy Rodríguez announced the process shortly after inheriting power following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation. Guanipa is a close ally of María Corina Machado, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Another of Machado’s associates, Freddy Superlano, 49, was also released, the NGO Foro Penal reported Sunday night. The Venezuelan opposition leader returned to prison after a brief release, which he used to tour Caracas by motorcycle and meet with relatives of political prisoners. His brief release anticipated the passage of a general amnesty law, scheduled for Tuesday, which in theory will result in the release of all political prisoners. “On July 28, 2024, the people made their voices heard; there was a popular decision,” he added, referring to the opposition’s claim that they won that election. She denounced fraud in the 2024 election that gave Maduro a third term. “I hold the regime responsible for anything that happens to my father; enough is enough with this repression,” he said on X. “Now we advocate for his full freedom,” she added, along with a photograph of the two of them. The NGO Foro Penal, which specializes in the defense of political prisoners, verified 35 new releases on Sunday. Local media released photographs of a police patrol stationed in front of the building where Rocha lives, in Caracas. “So let’s have an electoral process.” “The precautionary measures agreed upon by the courts are conditional upon strict compliance with the measures imposed,” the Public Prosecutor’s Office stated. “Do we want to respect it? Oh, you don’t want to respect it? Let’s respect it, that’s the basics, that’s the logical thing to do.”
