Venezuela: Opposition politician abducted hours after prison release

Juan Pablo Guanipa, a prominent Venezuelan opposition figure and former political prisoner, has been abducted by unknown assailants just hours after his release from prison, local opposition leaders report.

Maria Corina Machado, a leading opposition figure, said armed men in civilian clothing arrived in four vehicles and forcibly took Guanipa from the Los Chorros neighbourhood in the capital, Caracas. “We demand his immediate release,” Machado wrote on X.

Guanipa’s son, Ramon, confirmed that a group of around ten unidentified individuals had seized his father, calling for his prompt release. Guanipa’s party, Primero Justicia, described the incident as a kidnapping carried out by “the dictatorship’s repressive forces.”

Guanipa had been released alongside two other opposition politicians as part of a government-announced amnesty, which is due to take effect on February 10. The measure is intended to cover “the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present,” following pressure from the United States.

Shortly after his release, Guanipa called on authorities to respect the outcome of the 2024 presidential elections, which the opposition and some international observers believe were won by Edmundo González Urrutia.

President Nicolás Maduro was officially declared the winner, prompting widespread protests in which at least 28 people died, and more than 2,400 were arrested. González Urrutia subsequently fled to Spain.

Despite the amnesty, the NGO Foro Penal reports that over 700 political prisoners remain in Venezuelan jails.

By Aghakazim Guliyev