Prominent Maracucho politician Juan Pablo Guanipa was released from prison yesterday and hours later kidnapped by armed civilians. It’s a stark reminder of how difficult it is for chavismo to let go of its odious hostage politics.

 A former legislator and one-time presidential hopeful, Guanipa was arbitrarily detained last year and released on Sunday morning as the Rodríguez government has started releasing political prisoners and negotiating an amnesty law.

A few hours later, he was forced into an SUV by armed men in the Los Chorros neighborhood of Caracas. The office of Venezuela’s chief prosecutor this morning released a statement saying it was asking a court to review whether or not Guanipa had violated the terms of his release.

His crime appears to have been speaking publicly about working toward a free Venezuela. Recently released political prisoners face a range of humiliating restrictions on their “freedom,” including in many cases a prohibition on making public statements. It has made clear that the release of these freedom fighters does not in fact constitute freedom.

 Most remain under gag orders, as well as extreme conditions that reportedly include a prohibition on seeking medical attention. Because medical reports leaked to the press would inevitably bear testament to the horrid conditions of these prisons and undermine the regime’s narrative about what actually happens in its political gulags.

Alfredo Romero, one of the founders of NGO Foro Penal, says that at least 11,000 people who have been released from political prison still have some sort of substitutive measure. Be it hom e arrest, traveling restrictions, gag orders, and or some sort of political ban.

 Guanipa was one of the highest-profile political prisoners still being held in captivity. He was not the only one to offer public statements upon release yesterday, but for sure his challenging stance, he led groups to visit different locations in Caracas holding political prisoners right away, helped inspire the others that joined in. His bravery cannot be underestimated. He has not only confronted prison conditions but also forced the regime again to demonstrate its precarious commitment to democratic freedoms even after the U.S. military strikes.

After midnight, as outrage was building up because of his rearrest, the regime’s prosecutor’s office under Tarek William Saab issued a statement saying that Guanipa had violated the conditions of his release and that they had requested a court to put him in house arrest.

 His rearrest is further evidence that chavismo is struggling to let go of hostage politics as public policy. It gives good reason to doubt the legitimacy of the amnesty law being discussed in Congress. It further highlights the need to question who has really been freed, if many of them—if not all of them—face a similar fate if they commit the crime of exercising free expression.

The question here is how much agency does the local management (or the Delcy regime) has to exercise repression? Do they have to call in and ask permission from Corporate for this kind of stuff? Or will she get an angry call from the boss later today? Whatever happens, nothing to put the regime’s renovated political openness to the test like exercising politics.