Venezuelan opposition leader Machado says a close ally was kidnapped hours after prison release

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says one of her closest allies has been kidnapped hours after being released from prison. The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions. Machado said on social media that Juan Pablo Guanipa, a former governor who had been in custody for eight months, was taken by heavily armed men around midnight in a residential neighborhood of the capital, Caracas. She demanded his release. The government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez has faced pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions have been linked to their political activities. The government’s press office did not immediately comment early Monday.