They arrest the brother of Juan Pablo and Tomás Guanipa when he tried to travel to Colombia

The opposition Pedro Guanipa, director of the Mayor’s Office of Maracaibo (west), was detained by agents of a police force. security in Venezuela When he was preparing to travel to Colombia, his relatives reported this Thursday, who say they do not know the whereabouts of the arrested person.

The 57-year-old man “was detained arbitrarily and without any legal reason when he was preparing to stamp his passport to travel to Bogotá,” according to former deputy Tomás Guanipa, the detainee’s brother, who did not specify whether the arrest occurred at an airport or land border.

“We do not know his whereabouts and we demand his release,” the opponent added in X.

Former deputy Juan Pablo Guanipa, also the brother of the detainee, called this arrest arbitrary. The authorities have not offered information.

“We demand that he be informed of his location and that he be released because he has not committed any crime,” the politician demandedone of the leaders closest to opposition leader María Corina Machado, whom the government accuses of leading alleged coup plans.

The arrest of Pedro Guanipa occurs two days before a “global protest” called by the main opposition coalition – Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – against the official result of the July 28 elections, according to which Nicolás Maduro was re-elected as president .

After the elections, the result of which has been questioned inside and outside the country, a political crisis broke out that resulted in nearly 2,400 people being detained, many of them PUD sympathizers, whom the Executive and the Prosecutor’s Office classify as terrorists. .

My brother @pedroguanipav He was detained arbitrarily and without any legal reason when he was preparing to stamp his passport to travel to Bogotá. We do not know his whereabouts and we demand his release. https://t.co/KkEwjeZGxA

— Tomás Guanipa (@TomasGuanipa) September 26, 2024