Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado stated that her colleague, Juan Pablo Guanipa, has been kidnapped just hours after his release from detention.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner reported on Sunday that Guanipa, head of the Justice First party, was taken forcibly in the Los Chorros neighborhood of Caracas.
Machado wrote early Monday on social media, Heavily armed men dressed in civilian clothes arrived in four vehicles and took him away by force.
Guanipa, a former vice-president of the National Assembly, had spent eight months in prison and was among several political prisoners released as political tensions escalated in Venezuela following the US seizing control from then-President Nicolás Maduro in January.
His party claimed he was kidnapped by the repressive forces of the dictatorship while he was moving between locations. Witnesses reported that firearms were pointed at Guanipa and his companions before he was loaded into a vehicle.
Justice First holds Delcy Rodríguez, Jorge Rodríguez, and Diosdado Cabello responsible for any harm that may come to Guanipa, referencing key figures in the Venezuelan government.
The political party is calling on the international community to demand Guanipa's immediate release and an end to the persecution of opposition members.
Earlier, Guanipa's son Ramón expressed joy about his father's release, stating that their family would soon be able to embrace again, but later posted a video demanding proof of his father's safety.
He declared in the video, I hold the regime responsible for anything that happens to my father. Enough of this repression.
Guanipa was one of at least 30 people freed on Sunday, as reported by Foro Penal, which assists political prisoners in the country.
Having been elected as governor of the Zulia region in 2017, he was unable to take office due to his refusal to swear allegiance to Maduro's National Constituent Assembly.
Guanipa went into hiding after accusations of terrorism and treason emerged following his challenge to the 2024 election results. He was later apprehended by Venezuelan security forces in May 2025.
Opposition and human rights organizations assert that since Maduro's rise to power, the government has systematically used detentions to quell dissent and silence critics.
