Four days ago, the Venezuelan authorities detained the lawyer and human rights activist Rocío San Miguel at an airport in the capital when she was preparing to travel to Miami with her daughter, after linking her to an alleged plan to attack the regime and life. by Nicolás Maduro.
The case triggered condemnations from citizens and human rights organizations, inside and outside the country.
San Miguel's lawyers claimed until this Tuesday – when they confirmed that she is being held in El Helicoide – that they had not had contact with their client since then, despite the fact that the attorney general, Tarek William Saab,
confirmed the capture of the activist
and He stated that it was presented on Monday night before the Second Counter-Terrorism Court of Caracas.
Venezuelan lawyer Rocío San Miguel speaks during a conference in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 14, 2011.Associated Press
At that hearing, San Miguel did not have lawyers it trusted to guarantee the right to legal assistance, its legal team denounced in a statement, adding that the activist has not had contact with her family either.
The lawyers have also said that five of her loved ones, including her daughter, two brothers and her ex-husband, were also detained.
Reports indicate that they have now been released under a presentation regime.
The prosecution has not provided evidence to support the accusations of treason, conspiracy and terrorism, among other crimes, that the activist is accused of,
according to her defense team.
Who is Rocío San Miguel?
She is a 57-year-old lawyer who directs Citizen Control, a non-governmental organization established in early 2005 with the purpose of promoting and exercising citizen oversight on matters of security, defense and the National Armed Forces.
A year before the creation of that organization, San Miguel had been fired from the government's National Border Council, after signing a list that sought to activate a referendum to cut the mandate of then-president Hugo Chávez.
Hundreds of people reported that between 2003 and 2004, after appearing on that list,
they were fired from their positions in the public sector
.
Years later, Chávez asked managers and officials to "bury" the aforementioned list that circulated for a long time on the Internet.
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The Council was a high-level consultative and advisory body to coordinate public and social policy actions between different government entities at the borders.
San Miguel later went to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to denounce the situation in which the signatories were exposed.
The lawyer continued to be the target of criticism, harassment and threats after the death of Chávez in 2013 and the arrival of Maduro to power due to her supervisory work on national security and defense issues.
Why did your work bother the Government?
After 25 years of Chavista governments in Venezuela, fewer and fewer people like San Miguel dare to reveal what is happening within the military world.
The armed forces have traditionally been the arbiters largely entrusted with resolving political conflicts in the country.
During Chávez's mandate and later with that of Maduro, his political heir, state companies and ministries of sectors considered strategic have increasingly occupied key spaces in the economy.
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In that sense, the oversight work of
Citizen Control has been seen as a thorn in the side
, and at the same time the target of virulent criticism from the authorities for its investigations, including one in which the existence of military personnel was exposed for the first time. active registered as militants of the Government party, despite the fact that the National Constitution clearly prohibits it.
The investigations led by San Miguel also revealed cases of torture, deaths, arbitrary detentions, among other irregularities allegedly committed by members of the armed forces, which are considered one of Maduro's main supporters.
Citizen Watch also revealed human rights abuses, as well as alleged acts of corruption in the military sector.
What does the Government accuse her of?
Maduro and his allies have repeatedly accused San Miguel of being financed by Washington to discredit his government and in particular the military,
although without presenting proof of this
.
The authorities have so far referred to the arrest of the human rights defender, citing the prosecution's writings.
Last January, the Attorney General's Office announced the arrest of 36 civilians and soldiers linked to five alleged plots against the Government that, it said, were foiled between May of last year and the first days of 2024. They involved several former senior officers. , journalists, politicians and activists, including San Miguel.
During Maduro's more than ten-year mandate, dozens of alleged destabilizing plans have been reported for which numerous people have been detained, although the conclusions of the processes have rarely been reported.
What do international organizations say?
Some activists maintain that the Maduro Government's objective with the arrest is to silence and frighten uncomfortable sectors in the middle of an election year.
San Miguel "is a serious, responsible professional and is a person who, well, has carried out her work, at least as far as I know, within the most absolute legality," Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the organization, told The Associated Press. government Penal Forum, and clarified that he does not have a friendly relationship with the detainee.
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He considered that she is the object of an "arbitrary detention", which would have "a very precise purpose:
to send a clear message to other non-governmental organizations
" in an election year.
"The Government does not want organizations, journalists, or any type of entity that in some way shows what the dark corners of the country are, the negative things that are happening," he added.
With information from
The Associated Press