Venezuela frees several opposition members after lengthy politically
motivated detentions
[February 09, 2026]
By REGINA GARCIA CANO
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government on Sunday released from
prison several prominent opposition members, including one of the
closest allies of Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, after
lengthy politically motivated detentions.
Their releases come as the government of acting President Delcy
Rodríguez faces mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose
detentions months or years ago have been linked to their political
activities. They also follow a visit to Venezuela of representatives of
the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president after the Jan. 3
capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. military. Her
government began releasing prisoners days later.
Some of those freed Sunday joined families waiting outside prisons for
their loved ones to be released. They chanted “We are not afraid! We are
not afraid!” and marched a short distance.
“I am convinced that our country has completely changed,” Juan Pablo
Guanipa, a Machado ally and former governor, told reporters hours after
his release. “I am convinced that it is now up to all of us to focus on
building a free and democratic country."
Guanipa spent more than eight months in custody.
Venezuelan-based prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal confirmed the
release of at least 30 people Sunday.
In addition to Guanipa, Machado’s political organization said several of
its members were among the released, including María Oropeza, who
livestreamed her arrest by military intelligence officers as they broke
into her home with a crowbar. Machado's attorney, Perkins Rocha, was
also freed.
“Let’s go for the freedom of Venezuela!” Machado posted on X.
Guanipa was detained in late May and accused by Interior Minister
Diosdado Cabello of participating in an alleged “terrorist group”
plotting to boycott that month's legislative election. Guanipa's brother
Tomás rejected the accusation, and said the arrest was meant to crack
down on dissent.
“Thinking differently cannot be criminalized in Venezuela, and today,
Juan Pablo Guanipa is a prisoner of conscience of this regime,” Tomás
Guanipa said after the arrest.
Rodríguez's government announced Jan. 8 it would free a significant
number of prisoners — a central demand of the country’s opposition and
human rights organizations with backing from the United States — but
families and rights watchdogs have criticized authorities for the slow
pace of the releases.
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Opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, right, and political activist
Jesus Armas ride on the back of motorbikes after their release from
prison in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian
Hernandez)
The ruling party-controlled National Assembly this week began
debating an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds
of prisoners. The opposition and nongovernmental organizations have
reacted with cautious optimism as well as with suggestions and
demands for more information on the contents of the proposal.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez on Friday posted a video
on Instagram showing him outside a detention center in Caracas and
saying that “everyone” would be released no later than next week,
once the amnesty bill is approved.
Delcy Rodríguez and Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights, spoke by phone in late January. His spokesperson,
Ravina Shamdasani, in a statement said he “offered our support to
help Venezuela work on a roadmap for dialogue and reconciliation in
which human rights should be at the centre" and then “deployed a
team” to the South American country.
Machado remains in exile after leaving Venezuela in December. After
she was briefly detained in January 2025, she had not been seen in
public for 11 months when she appeared in Norway after the Nobel
Peace Prize ceremony.
Juan Pablo Guanipa on Sunday said Machado “exercises undeniable
leadership” and is needed in Venezuela along with other exiled
political leaders to move the country forward. He, Oropeza and
others who were released within hours of each other visited
detention centers in Caracas, where they called for the release of
all prisoners detained for political reasons.
“It is a bittersweet happiness because I know that many are still
imprisoned,” Oropeza said outside Helicoide, the notorious prison
where she was held after her August 2024 detention. "And I want to
tell you that one of the reasons we were unjustly imprisoned for
more than a year in that place is the same reason we walked out
today: To fight for the liberation of our beloved Venezuela and for
the liberation of all political prisoners.
“Because there are no bars that can silence us.”
___
Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this
report.
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