Venezuela's Machado says close ally kidnapped after prison release

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Monday said one of her closest allies was kidnapped hours after being released from prison.

The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison on Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions.

Machado said on social media that Juan Pablo Guanipa was taken around midnight in a residential neighbourhood of the capital, Caracas.

"Heavily armed men, dressed in civilian clothes, arrived in four vehicles and violently took him away," she posted on X. "We demand his immediate release."

The releases of the opposition figures came as the government of acting President Delcy Rodriguez has faced mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked to their political activities. The releases also followed a visit to Venezuela of representatives of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The government's press office did not immediately respond to a request