Venezuela frees relatives of Rocío San Miguel, but sends activist to intelligence service jail

Rocío San Miguel will be held in El Helicoide, a prison of the Venezuelan intelligence service. The activist’s defense confirmed the decision of the Second Terrorism Court in which he was arraigned on Monday night after being incommunicado for more than three days and his comrades not being aware of his whereabouts, leading human rights organizations to issue a New incidents of enforced disappearance have been reported. In Venezuela. San Miguel was not allowed assistance by his lawyers and was appointed a public defender. Activist daughter Miranda Diaz San Miguel, Miranda’s father Victor Diaz Paruta and her brothers Miguel San Miguel and Alberto San Miguel were released this Tuesday under restrictions and prohibitions on leaving the country, subject to periodic appearances before the courts . According to lawyer Juan González Taguáruco, upon announcement in the media. During the hearing, the activist was able to see her imprisoned relatives, but four days after her arrest at Maquitia Airport, she has had no contact with her defense team or other relatives.

The Public Ministry said San Miguel is being charged with the crimes of treason, conspiracy, terrorism and collaboration. Alejandro González de Canales, a retired soldier and former comrade of San Miguel, was also arrested in the cells of the Military Counter Intelligence Directorate in Caracas, and is being investigated for alleged disclosure of political and military secrets related to security. Nation., Administration of Justice and obstruction to the Union.

In a statement, Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said the presentation hearing of San Miguel and his relatives was held “within the relevant legal period and in strict compliance with respect for human rights and constitutional guarantees” as part of the investigation into the alleged conspiracy. Was. The White Bracelet is one of five new plots to assassinate Nicolás Maduro that Chavismo has condemned. The specter of murder has always been present in the Chavista government. In his first years in office, Maduro denounced at least 15 conspiracies against him. His predecessor Hugo Chávez had also warned of dozens of attempts to assassinate him. Prosecutor Saab said in his message that “a furious campaign is being carried out from abroad against the justice system and the Venezuelan state by the same sectors that have always despised Venezuela’s democratic institutions and at the same time supported assassination attempts. And Venezuela against the coup carried out by the imperial powers of the West.

Authorities did not explain the reasons why San Miguel’s relatives were released with their conditional freedom, but added more pressure to arrest the targeted individual’s entourage of arbitrary arrests made in recent years. This has become a practice in the U.S., something that has been recorded in fact-finding missions and reports of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The lawyer and her family had already been victims of persecution, harassment and raids for years, which is why the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted protection measures to her and her daughter Miranda, who was a minor at the time, in 2012.

San Miguel’s case has caused a stir in Venezuela, where more than 200 human rights organizations, political parties, universities and unions have called for his release. Outside, it has also raised concerns in the international community, which is tracking the steadily worsening Venezuelan crisis following the signing of the Barbados agreement in October, paving the way for democratically guaranteed presidential elections to be held in 2024. A demand has been made to do so. The EU has requested the immediate release of the protector and the defense security expert this Tuesday. Foreign affairs and security policy spokeswoman Nabila Masrali said she was “Deeply concerned” by the recent arrests. “We call for their immediate release and reaffirm our commitment to the protection of human rights defenders.”

This new episode of persecution, which began with the arrest of several associates of María Corina Machado, the main opposition candidate for president in early 2024, who was also implicated in alleged assassination plots, is raising the possibility of resuming negotiations. Stops it. , The United States managed to accelerate the process of understanding by talking directly with Maduro’s senior government in secret meetings held in Doha last year. This last round led to the Barbados Agreements and the first temporary relaxation of the oil and gas embargo plan imposed on Venezuela, an exchange of prisoners between the United States and Venezuela, and the signing of democratic commitments, which Both Chavismo—which, through judicial means, decided to block Machado’s candidacy and torpedo the primaries in which she was elected—as the opposition considers incomplete.

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