Venezuela Frees Opposition Leader Juan Pablo Guanipa as Sunday Prisoner Wave Reaches at Least 30

The 60-year-old lawyer and Primero Justicia leader was released Sunday from the Bolivarian National Police headquarters in Caracas, where he had been held since his arrest on May 23, 2025. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Venezuela affairs and Latin American financial news.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello had accused him, without presenting evidence, of leading a “terrorist group” plotting to disrupt regional elections, charging him with terrorism, money laundering, and incitement to hatred.

Guanipa’s defiance of Chavismo dates back to 2017, when he won the Zulia governorship with 51.35% of the vote but refused to swear allegiance before the Constituent Assembly — then presided over by Delcy Rodríguez herself. He was the only opposition governor to resist, and was stripped of his office within days.

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His son Ramón announced the release on X, writing that the family had been separated for over 18 months. Machado celebrated on social media, calling Guanipa “a hero,” while exiled opposition figure Edmundo González Urrutia cautioned that “personal freedom is not a concession — it is a fundamental right.”

Sunday’s releases also included Perkins Rocha, Machado’s legal advisor held since August 2024 at the notorious El Helicoide detention center, and Jesús Armas, freed after 426 days. Rodríguez has pledged to close El Helicoide, which Human Rights Watch has documented as a site of systematic torture.

Critics from both flanks question the process. The opposition views the releases as involuntary concessions extracted by US pressure following the January 3 capture of Nicolás Maduro, while former US Ambassador James Story told NPR that Rodríguez’s strategy is to “do just enough to make it look as if they’re complying.”

Chavista officials frame the amnesty as reconciliation, with Jorge Rodríguez urging the nation to “forgive and ask for forgiveness.” Amnesty International warned that repressive laws remain on the books and “crimes against humanity do not end with Maduro’s removal.”

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