Venezuela frees opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa after 8 months in prison

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa was released on Sunday after more than eight months in prison, he said in a video posted on social media.

Guanipa, one of the closest allies of the opposition power Maria Corina Machadohad been held in a detention center in the capital, Caracas.

“Today they free us,” Guanipa said in a video published on X. “There is a lot to discuss about the present and future of Venezuela, always with the truth at the forefront.”

He was arrested at the end of May and charged with Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello of participating in an alleged “terrorist group” that was plotting to boycott the legislative elections that month. Guanipa’s brother Tomás rejected the accusation and said the arrest was aimed at suppressing dissent.

“Thinking differently cannot be criminalized in Venezuela and today Juan Pablo Guanipa is a prisoner of conscience of this regime,” said Tomás Guanipa after the arrest. “You have the right to think as you think, the right to defend your ideas and the right to be treated under a constitution that does not apply today.”

The release of Juan Pablo Guanipa comes amid growing pressure on the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez release all people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked by their families and non-governmental organizations to their political beliefs.

Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president of Venezuela after the capture of then-president Nicolás Maduro by the US military last month.

His government announced last month that it would release a significant number of prisoners — a central demand of the country’s opposition and U.S.-backed human rights organizations — but families and rights advocates have criticized authorities for the slow pace of releases.