Many Venezuelan political prisoners were released and celebrated over the weekend — it was quite a joy to see them on social media reuniting with their family and friends, as it always is. According to the human rights organization Foro Penal, we're up to 426 verified releases in the last month as of Monday morning.
Unfortunately, those celebrations took a dark turn on Sunday night.
One of the political prisoners released on Sunday was Juan Pablo Guanipa. He's a prominent opposition leader who, alongside Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, has been key in the fight against the Nicolás Maduro regime and Hugo Chávez before him. Many consider him to be number two behind Machado when it comes to the faces of Venezuela's opposition.
The 61-year-old lawyer served as a deputy in the National Assembly and briefly held the position of First Vice President of the National Assembly. In 2017, he was elected governor of Zulia, the most populated of Venezuela's 23 states, but he was denied the ability to take office because he refused to pledge allegiance to the Maduro regime.
Guanipa, who had been in hiding for almost a year, was arrested in May of last year because, according to the "Minister of Interior, Justice, and Peace" Diosdado Cabello — who, just to remind you, is a wanted man in the United States with $25 million on his head — he was leading a "terrorist network" and was also involved with money laundering and inciting hatred.
Fun fact: He was not doing any of those things.
On Sunday, he was released from the torture center El Helicoide along with several other political prisoners, a move that was heavily celebrated by freedom-loving Venezuelans around the world.
Here's a video of him after his release. "Here we are, walking free," he says. "After a year and a half, ten months in hiding, almost nine months detained here, today we are walking free. Much to discuss about the present and future of Venezuela, always with the truth at the forefront."
🇻🇪🇻🇪🇻🇪🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/14r8AJH89V
— Juan Pablo Guanipa (@JuanPGuanipa) February 8, 2026
But that freedom was short-lived. On Sunday night, Machado announced that Guanipa had been kidnapped by "heavily armed" men in Caracas.
URGENT
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) February 9, 2026
International Alert
A few minutes ago, Juan Pablo Guanipa was kidnapped in the Los Chorros neighborhood of Caracas.
Heavily armed men dressed in civilian clothes arrived in four vehicles and took him away by force.
We demand his immediate release.
#BREAKING | Juan Pablo Guanipa, the most important Venezuelan opposition leader after María Corina Machado, has just been abducted in Caracas by heavily armed men, shortly after being released this afternoon following months of illegal imprisonment.
— Orlando Avendaño (@OrlvndoA) February 9, 2026
The life of Juan Pablo… pic.twitter.com/BDOemYsqne
Guanipa's son also spoke about it. "I want to alert the entire world that my father has been kidnapped again," he said. "My father, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was at an event at 11:45 p.m. when he was ambushed by approximately ten officers who had no identification whatsoever. They pointed guns at them, they were heavily armed, and they took my father away. I demand proof of life immediately and I hold the regime responsible for anything that happens to my father. Enough of this repression!"
El hijo de Juan Pablo Guanipa dice que su padre fue secuestrado por 10 agentes del régimen chavista y les responsabiliza por su desaparición:pic.twitter.com/gwlU8HV8Zq
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) February 9, 2026
Venezuela's Public Prosecutor's Office is scrambling on Monday morning, claiming in a hastily written statement that it had court approval to place him under "house arrest" because he violated the the terms of his release. However, his family has no idea where he's located, and documents show he did not violate anything. All he actually did was join a caravan of his fellow citizens and demand that the remaining political prisoners be released.
The family is demanding proof of life and international attention. Several members of the U.S. Congress have spoken out, demanding the same.
The thing is that on Friday, Jorge Rodríguez, brother of "acting president" Delcy, promised that all remaining political prisoners would be released this week, and that the amnesty bill that would cover every prisoner arrested dating back to the early days of the Chavez regime would become law as well. Not that anyone trusted that in the first place, but this situation confirms that the regime is still very much in place.
On Thursday, January 29, Donald Trump announced that he and Marco Rubio had spoken on the phone to Delcy that morning, and shortly after, there was a lot of positive movement, such as opening up the skies for flights from the United States and the signing of the bill that reforms the oil sector and opens it up for international investment. Delcy and Jorge were suddenly talking like they were reading from MAGA scripts.
It sounds to me like Trump needs to make another phone call and remind these guys, especially Cabello, that his "second wave" can come at any time. Either the Rodriguez siblings aren't playing by the rules, or, more likely, Cabello and others, like "Attorney General" Tarek William Saab, are playing by their own rules and must be stopped. The release and amnesty of political prisoners may seem insignificant to those of us here in the U.S., but it is the first step toward stabilization and democracy in Venezuela, and this half-hearted version is getting old.
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