Juan Pablo Guanipa, a prominent Venezuelan opposition politician and close ally of Nobel laureate María Corina Machado, has been detained again just hours after being released from prison, stirring concerns over the country's political transition.
Guanipa, 61, a former governor, had spent nearly nine months in detention before being freed on Sunday as part of a release of at least 35 political prisoners. Within hours, he rode across Caracas in a motorbike convoy to a rally outside the notorious El Helicoide prison, declaring that Venezuela had "completely changed" and vowing to build "a Venezuela of democracy, of freedom, of justice, of pluralism and coexistence."
His freedom proved short-lived. In a social media video, his son Ramón said Guanipa had been taken by unidentified armed men at about 11.45pm on Sunday. "I want to let the whole world know that my father has once again been kidnapped," he said, demanding proof of life. Machado alleged that heavily armed men in civilian clothes had arrived in four vehicles and "violently took him away," calling for his immediate release.
On Monday, Venezuela's top prosecutor said his office had requested Guanipa's re-arrest "due to his non-compliance with the terms [of his release]", though the specific conditions were not disclosed. Some released prisoners have been barred from travelling abroad or speaking to the press. Human rights activists say about 425 political prisoners have been freed since the controversial abduction of Nicolás Maduro on 3 January.
Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's successor, has promised a "new chapter" for the oil-rich nation, and the regime is pursuing an amnesty law. But observers note that there is little sign the security forces and paramilitary groups that underpinned authoritarian rule will be dismantled. Orlando Pérez, a Latin America expert, said Guanipa's re-arrest reflected "a push and pull" between factions in Venezuela's leadership, with interior minister Diosdado Cabello and defence minister Vladimir Padrino López likely seeking to slow reforms favoured by Rodríguez and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez.
Guanipa was originally seized in May last year by anti-subversion agents and held on charges of terrorism, treason and conspiring with a foreign government. Cabello, who celebrated his capture then, said on Monday that Guanipa's detention showed Venezuelan justice was working, in an apparent reference to the politician's defiant comments outside El Helicoide.
