Rocío San Miguel is one of the most reputable public voices in the Venezuelan military world, a true eminence.
Few know the depths of the complex and opaque Chavista military universe like she does.
On Friday she was arrested when she was preparing to travel from Caracas to Miami with her only daughter, Miranda San Miguel.
It was done by agents of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, the feared DGCIM.
They let her daughter go, but the authorities called her the next day to pick up the suitcases at the airline counter.
She has not been heard from again.
Before returning to the airport she notified her father, who is believed to have come looking for her after calling her several times and verifying that her phone was turned off.
In the following hours, two of the activist's brothers, her current husband, and at least one other of her relatives were also arrested.
For several days nothing was heard from them, until this Monday the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, announced that he will request prison for the activist and her husband and parole for the rest.
The case has shocked the country and has made the high diplomacy of Spain, a country of which both San Miguel and his daughter have nationality, react.
William Saab publicly admitted the arrest of the activist, without giving more details about her whereabouts.
In a statement he points out that San Miguel had been identified by some soldiers as the instigator of a military coup against the Maduro Government, which included the assassination of the president.
She is charged with the crimes of treason, conspiracy and terrorism.
The prosecution has not yet shown any evidence to support these accusations.
Mini Díaz Paruta, 54, sister of San Miguel's ex-husband, Víctor Díaz Paruta, says the family is shocked and worried.
“We fear for their lives.
We are in a state of helplessness.
We have not had any type of information,” she says on the phone from Atlanta, in the United States, a country in which she received political asylum four years ago.
Mini Díaz Paruta.Courtesy
Mini Díaz maintains that her brother barely had a relationship with Rocío San Miguel since they separated 12 years ago.
They kept their daughter as a bond, but it didn't go beyond that.
Víctor Díaz is the owner of a health insurance company, Fuerza de Seguro, based in Caracas.
He has no political activism or public relevance.
It seems surreal to his sister that she could be behind any plot, especially with her ex-partner.
Nor is there the slightest indication that San Miguel, a respected, restrained and prudent professional, without off-color or extravagant statements, had any criminal intentions.
205 civil organizations and 415 people have demanded her release.
Spain, in turn, works stealthily to liberate her.
Venezuela, after its agreements with the United States and the opposition, should be moving through a democratic process that would conclude in free and fair presidential elections in 2024. Washington encouraged Maduro by lowering sanctions on oil and gas, a lifeline. for the meager Venezuelan economy.
However, Chavismo has categorically prohibited the participation in the elections of the main favorite, the opposition María Corina Machado, who surpasses Maduro in popularity.
And now she has started a campaign of arrests of politicians, activists and ordinary citizens that no one knows when she will stop.
The reason?
An alleged plan to assassinate Maduro.
Chavismo has used this argument more than once in the past to entrench itself in its most intolerant positions.
The episode was even more intricate at the airport.
An aunt of San Martín's daughter went to the airline office on Saturday to find out the whereabouts of her niece.
Yarlila Díaz was immediately detained and taken to a dark room where she was interrogated insistently.
She was asked about the military and operations that she had no idea about.
After two hours they told her that she could leave and that her brother was going to the Boleíta prison, a preventive detention center.
It is offline and without location.
Mini Díaz, who was a public official and activist of the opposition party to Chavismo Proyecto Venezuela, considers that the arrests of her relatives are part of a political strategy of the Government.
“It's part of
her modus operandi.
When election times approach they begin to arrest people.
It is a cyclical game.
I estimate that they have denounced about 20 plots to kill Maduro.
It is barbaric,” she concludes.
Chavismo has acted many times before against opponents and critical voices, but it had not hit an entire family in this way.
On the way to the elections, the message has hardened.
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