Venezuelan authorities said they were seeking court approval to put prominent opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa under house arrest on Sunday, shortly after he was seized by armed men in Caracas in what his son called a kidnapping.
The incident came hours after Guanipa was released from jail after being held more than eight months on accusations of leading a terrorist plot.
He's a close ally of Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado who won the Nobel for her efforts to unseat long-time leader Nicolas Maduro. She and the politician's son Ramon Guanipa both said he had been forcibly taken by unidentified men.
"Heavily armed men dressed in civilian clothes arrived in four vehicles and took him away by force," Machado said in a post on X.
The younger Guanipa said in a social media video, "My father has again been kidnapped."
Venezuela's Public Ministry said in a statement that Guanipa broke the terms of his release, but did not provide details. It did not address whether he had been re-arrested.
Just hours before, Juan Pablo Guanipa had posted videos to social media in which he spoke to journalists and a crowd of cheering supporters. He urged the release of other political prisoners and called the current administration illegitimate.
Guanipa had said in an interview with a local online outlet that he spoke briefly with Machado after being released, and hoped to speak with her further the next day.
The incident casts uncertainty over government pledges to pass an amnesty law and free political prisoners, as U.S. pressure mounts a month after the Trump administration captured and deposed Maduro in January.
Venezuela's opposition and human rights groups have said for years that the country's socialist government uses detentions to stamp out dissent.
However, the government denies holding political prisoners and says those jailed have committed crimes.
Officials say nearly 900 have been released, but they have not been clear about the timeline and appear to be including releases from previous years. The government has not provided an official list of how many prisoners will be released or revealed their identities.
Rights group Foro Penal has said 383 political prisoners had been freed since the Venezuelan government announced on 8 January that it would begin a new series of releases.
It counted another 35 releases on Sunday, including opposition politician Freddy Superlano and lawyer Perkins Rocha, also close allies of Machado.
The group's director, Alfredo Romero, said on social media they did not yet have clear information about who took Guanipa.
Meanwhile, Maduro’s re-election in 2024 was widely condemned as fraudulent, and the U.S. government has made it clear that recognition of any transitional authority hinges on the genuine restoration of human rights.
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