Venezuela rearrests opposition figure Guanipa after release: Prosecutor

Public prosecutor says Guanipa placed under house arrest, as opposition figure’s son, allies decry ‘kidnapping’.

Venezuela’s public prosecutor’s office has said opposition figure Juan Pablo Guanipa has been rearrested shortly after his release.

In a statement on Monday, the office said 61-year-old Guanipa, an ally of Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado, had not complied with the terms of his release on Sunday, without elaborating.

It said Guanipa, accused of leading a “terrorist” plot, has been put under house arrest “in order to safeguard the criminal process”.

Guanipa, who was vice president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, was first arrested in May 2025 after months in hiding. His release on Sunday made him one of hundreds of political prisoners freed since January 8, when the government, under pressure from the United States, announced a new series of releases.

The release of political prisoners comes weeks after President Nicolas Maduro was abducted by the US forces in a military operation in Caracas and taken to the US. Maduro has since been indicted on drug and gun charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

‘Kidnapped’

Guanipa’s son, Ramon, referred to his father’s seizure on Monday as an “abduction”, saying a group of about 10 unidentified, armed people had taken him. “We demand immediate proof of life and his release,” said Ramon in a message shared on his father’s X page.

Machado also claimed Guanipa had been “kidnapped” and that the incident happened in Caracas’s Los Chorros neighbourhood. In a message of support for her ally on X, Machado demanded Guanipa’s “immediate release”.

Hours earlier, newly freed Guanipa had posted several videos to social media in which he addressed a crowd of journalists and ‌supporters, urging the release of other political prisoners and calling the current administration illegitimate.

Since Maduro’s abduction on January 3, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has taken over as interim president. She has since moved to cooperate with the US and opened up the country’s enormous oil reserves to international corporations.

Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, were critics of US hegemony in Latin America.

Venezuela’s opposition and human rights groups have said for years ‌that the country’s government uses detentions to stamp out dissent.

But the government has denied holding political prisoners and says those jailed have committed crimes. The Venezuelan government has also accused some opposition leaders of working against the country’s interests. Several opposition figures, including Machado, had called for US military intervention in her country. She had also promised to open up the country’s oil sector to foreign investors, including US corporations.