Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa on Sunday was released after more than eight months in prison, he said in a video posted on social media.

Guanipa, one of the closest allies of opposition powerhouse Mar�a Corina Machado, had been held at a detention facility in the capital, Caracas.

�Today, we are being released,� Guanipa said in a video posted on X. �Much to discuss about the present and future of Venezuela, always with the truth at the forefront.�

He was detained in late May and accused by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello of participating in an alleged �terrorist group� plotting to boycott that month’s legislative election. Guanipa’s brother Tom�s rejected the accusation, and said that the arrest was meant to crack down on dissent.

�Thinking differently cannot be criminalized in Venezuela, and today, Juan Pablo Guanipa is a prisoner of conscience of this regime,� Tom�s Guanipa said after the arrest. �He has the right to think as he thinks, the right to defend his ideas, and the right to be treated under a constitution that is not being enforced today.�

Juan Pablo Guanipa’s release comes during mounting pressure on the government of acting President Delcy Rodr�guez to release all people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked by their families and nongovernmental organizations to their political beliefs.

Rodr�guez was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president after the capture of then President Nicol�s Maduro by the U.S. military last month.

Her government last month announced it would free a significant number of prisoners � a central demand of the country�s opposition and human rights organizations with backing from the United States � but families and rights watchdogs have criticized authorities for the slow pace of the releases.

(AP)