Key Factors
— Guanipa, a detailed ally of Nobel laureate María Corina Machado, walked free after practically 9 months in detention and ten months in hiding, a part of a wave that additionally freed lawyer Perkins Rocha and at the least 28 others.
— Foro Penal has verified roughly 400 political prisoner releases since January 8, whereas the federal government claims over 895 — however greater than 600 stay behind bars beneath situations that rights teams say fall in need of true freedom.
— A landmark amnesty invoice masking political circumstances from 1999 to the current handed its first legislative vote unanimously on February 5, with Nationwide Meeting chief Jorge Rodríguez promising all remaining prisoners freed by this Friday.
The 60-year-old lawyer and Primero Justicia chief was launched Sunday from the Bolivarian Nationwide Police headquarters in Caracas, the place he had been held since his arrest on Could 23, 2025.
Inside Minister Diosdado Cabello had accused him, with out presenting proof, of main a “terrorist group” plotting to disrupt regional elections, charging him with terrorism, cash laundering, and incitement to hatred.
Guanipa’s defiance of Chavismo dates again to 2017, when he gained the Zulia governorship with 51.35% of the vote however refused to swear allegiance earlier than the Constituent Meeting — then presided over by Delcy Rodríguez herself. He was the one opposition governor to withstand, and was stripped of his workplace inside days.
His son Ramón introduced the discharge on X, writing that the household had been separated for over 18 months. Machado celebrated on social media, calling Guanipa “a hero,” whereas exiled opposition determine Edmundo González Urrutia cautioned that “private freedom just isn’t a concession — it’s a basic proper.”
Sunday’s releases additionally included Perkins Rocha, Machado’s authorized advisor held since August 2024 on the infamous El Helicoide detention heart, and Jesús Armas, freed after 426 days. Rodríguez has pledged to shut El Helicoide, which Human Rights Watch has documented as a website of systematic torture.
Critics from each flanks query the method. The opposition views the releases as involuntary concessions extracted by US strain following the January 3 seize of Nicolás Maduro, whereas former US Ambassador James Story informed NPR that Rodríguez’s technique is to “do exactly sufficient to make it look as in the event that they’re complying.”
Chavista officers body the amnesty as reconciliation, with Jorge Rodríguez urging the nation to “forgive and express regret.” Amnesty Worldwide warned that repressive legal guidelines stay on the books and “crimes towards humanity don’t finish with Maduro’s elimination.”
