A Political Prisoner Kidnapped in Venezuela Hours After Being Released from Prison
Unknown individuals kidnapped opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, reported Venezuelan opposition leader and his associate María Corina Machado.
Screenshot from Noticias Caracol video
Armed men in civilian clothes, who arrived in four cars, forcibly took him away. "We demand his immediate release," Machado wrote on X. According to Machado, the incident took place in the Los Chorros residential area in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, Bild reports.
Guanipa's son Ramon also demanded his father's "immediate release." The opposition leader was seized by a group of "about ten unknown individuals," he reported on X.
"Our national leader Juan Pablo Guanipa has just been kidnapped by the repressive organs of the dictatorship," stated Guanipa's party Primero Justicia.
Earlier, Guanipa had been released from prison along with two other opposition politicians. After his release, in an interview with AFP, he called on the government to respect the results of the 2024 presidential elections. It is widely believed that opposition figure Edmundo González Urrutia then won the elections against Nicolás Maduro. However, the authorities declared Maduro the winner, while the opposition claimed the election results were falsified.
During the subsequent protests, at least 28 people died, and over 2,400 were arrested; González Urrutia fled to Spain.
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