Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, announced on 9/2 that armed individuals in "plain clothes" had "kidnapped" former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, in the capital Caracas.

Machado stated Guanipa was one of the prominent opposition members released by Venezuelan authorities on 8/2 after a long period of imprisonment. However, at midnight, just hours after his release, he was taken from a residential area in Caracas.

"The armed group arrived in 4 vehicles and forcibly took him," Machado posted on X. "We demand his immediate release."

The Venezuelan public prosecutor's office later rejected the "kidnapping" accusation, stating that Guanipa was re-arrested immediately after his release for violating his release conditions. Consequently, he was placed under house arrest "to ensure the criminal proceedings."

The specific conditions of Guanipa's release decision remain unclear.

Juan Pablo Guanipa upon his release from prison in Caracas, Venezuela, on 8/2. *Photo: AFP*.

Guanipa, a close ally of Machado, was arrested in 5/2025 on charges of conspiring to undermine legislative and regional elections, which the opposition had boycotted. He was accused of terrorism, money laundering, and inciting violence and hatred.

Guanipa had been in hiding before his arrest. His last public appearance was in 1/2025, when he joined Machado in a protest against President Nicolas Maduro.

After Maduro was raided and arrested by US special forces on 3/1, the Venezuelan government, led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, released many political prisoners to ease tensions with Washington. Guanipa was released on 8/2 along with two other opposition activists. Immediately after his release, Guanipa visited several detention centers in Caracas, met with prisoners' relatives, and spoke to the press.

He also appeared in a video posted on his X account. "Finally, we are free," Guanipa said in the video, adding that he had been "in hiding for 10 months, imprisoned for nearly 9 months in Caracas."

Guanipa also called on the government to respect the 2024 presidential election, where opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was believed to have won.

Huyen Le (According to AFP)