The opposition leader considers the presence of the U.S. “fundamental until the country’s definitive democratic stabilization is achieved.”
14ymedio (EFE), Caracas, Henry Chirinos, March 4, 2026 – Nearly two weeks after regaining his full freedom, former congressman Juan Pablo Guanipa told EFE that he is fighting for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela, which he believes is going through a transition process following the U.S. military attack of January 3 that should lead the country to elections.
From his hometown of Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia state (western Venezuela), Guanipa says he sees three “fundamental actors” in the new scenario: opposition unity, made up of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) and other parties that support a process of change, the leadership of María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, and the United States.
“Today the United States has presented a project that is based on those three stages of recovery, stabilization, and transition that will end in an electoral process,” said the leader, who considers Washington’s presence “fundamental until the country’s definitive democratic stabilization is achieved.”
In his opinion, this process began in October 2023, when Machado was chosen as the opposition candidate for the July 2024 elections, in which González Urrutia ultimately ran after the future Nobel Peace Prize laureate was disqualified, and in which Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed the winner despite allegations of fraud.
“I always said that this is going to bring consequences,” added Guanipa, who sees the electoral fraud as the origin of “the January 3 events.”
“I always said that this is going to bring consequences,” Guanipa added, noting that those events were the origin of “the January 3 events.”
For this leader, Venezuela is ready for a political alternative after having gone through “many very unpleasant things over these 27 years.”
“The entire process of economic and social impoverishment that the country has experienced, this whole process of dismantling institutions, of destroying the rules, of eliminating the separation of powers, of eliminating the rule of law—all of this has to change,” he stated.
In that sense, he said he notices the people are “hopeful” as they feel they are moving “toward a path of freedom,” but also “desperate.”
“It seems as if we would like everything to happen at once, that two months feels like too long and that we already want the change to materialize,” Guanipa warned, inviting people “to wait a little.”
It is “fair, necessary, and appropriate, not only the return of María Corina but also of everyone who is in exile.”
Referring to the opposition, he drew a distinction between those who “truly agree and are willing to work to achieve a definitive political change in Venezuela,” and those who believe that acting president Delcy Rodríguez should remain in power, since they assume she “brings more stability to the country.”
“We do not believe it is necessary to unite with them, because the objective of each side is completely different. And I believe that if we interpret the aspirations of the Venezuelan people at this moment, the vast majority want political change and also recognize María Corina as the leader of that democratic alternative,” he said.
Regarding the possibility of Machado’s return to the country, he said it is “fair, necessary, and appropriate, not only the return of María Corina but also of everyone who is in exile.”
“If you want to reconcile, as you say, a country, you have to ensure that everyone returns and that all political prisoners are freed,” he argued.
Guanipa believes that the amnesty law—after whose approval he was released despite the fact that, according to Parliament Speaker Jorge Rodríguez, it did not apply to him—“was not necessary” and also “cannot be exclusionary.”
“They themselves have said that without an amnesty law they released 800 or 900 people,” the opposition leader argued, saying that “what is needed is political will.”
“At first I didn’t know what I was going to face. Secondly, there is the fear of what might happen to you in prison, and, thirdly, there is the issue of when I might get out.”
Regarding his detention from May 23, 2025 until February 8 of this year, when he was released but hours later placed under house arrest after leading a caravan, he recalled his first 21 days as “extremely harsh,” “unpleasant,” and “inadequate.”
“At first I didn’t know what I was going to face. Secondly, there is the fear of what might happen to you in prison and, thirdly, there is the issue of when I might get out of here,” he recalled.
During that initial stage, he said he slept on a mat, in the cold and without blankets. He also wore a uniform that he was able to change 21 days later.
Guanipa, who on the 30th day of his confinement gained access to a book, admits he found refuge in prayer and reading, having read 154 books and 62,000 pages in eight months.
“I was free in prison,” he concluded, clinging to the hope of seeing his children again and of the country emerging “from this situation.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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