Venezuela frees Rocío San Miguel's relatives, but sends the activist to the intelligence service prison

Rocío San Miguel will remain held in El Helicoide, the prison of the Venezuelan intelligence service.

The activist's defense confirmed the decision of the 2nd Terrorism Court in which she was presented on Monday night, after being incommunicado for more than three days and without her entourage knowing her whereabouts, for which human rights organizations have reported the occurrence of a new forced disappearance in Venezuela.

San Miguel was not allowed to be assisted by her attorneys and was assigned a public defender.

Miranda Díaz San Miguel, daughter of the activist, Víctor Díaz Paruta, Miranda's father, and her brothers Miguel San Miguel and Alberto San Miguel were released this Tuesday under a regime of periodic appearances before the courts, a ban on leaving the country and a ban on declare to the media, according to lawyer Juan González Taguaruco.

During the hearing, the activist was able to see her relatives imprisoned, but four days after her arrest at the Maiquetía airport, she has not had contact with her defense team or with her other relatives.

The Public Ministry said that San Miguel is being charged with the crimes of treason, conspiracy, terrorism and association.

Alejandro González De Canales, a retired soldier and ex-partner of San Miguel, was also arrested in the cells of the Directorate of Military Counter Intelligence, in Caracas, and is being investigated for the alleged revelation of political and military secrets concerning the security of the Nation. , obstruction of the administration of justice and association.

In a statement, prosecutor Tarek William Saab stated that “within the corresponding legal periods and in strict compliance with respect for human rights and constitutional guarantees” the presentation hearings of San Miguel and his relatives were held as part of the investigations of the alleged plot called White Bracelet, one of the five new conspiracies to assassinate Nicolás Maduro that Chavismo has denounced.

The ghost of the assassination has always been present in the Chavista Government.

In his first years in the Presidency, Maduro denounced at least 15 conspiracies against him.

His predecessor, Hugo Chávez, also warned about dozens of attempts to assassinate him.

Prosecutor Saab added in his message that there is a “fierce campaign from abroad against the justice system and the Venezuelan State by the same sectors that have always despised Venezuelan democratic institutions and have at the same time supported assassination attempts. and coups d'état against Venezuela orchestrated by the imperial powers of the West.”

The authorities did not explain the reasons why the relatives of San Miguel were left with their conditional freedoms, but it has become a practice in arbitrary arrests carried out in recent years to arrest the target person's entourage to exert more pressure, something that has been recorded in the reports of the Fact-Finding Mission and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The lawyer and her family had already been victims of harassment, persecution and raids years ago, so in 2012 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted protection measures to her and her daughter Miranda, then a minor. age.

The case of San Miguel has caused a stir in Venezuela, where more than 200 human rights organizations, political parties, universities and unions have asked for his release.

Outside, it has also raised alarms in the international community that is following the progressive worsening of the Venezuelan crisis, after the Barbados agreements were signed in October that sought to pave the way for presidential elections with democratic guarantees that must be held in 2024. The European Union has requested this Tuesday the immediate release of the defender and defense security specialist.

The spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Nabila Massrali said she was

“deeply concerned” by the recent arrest.

“We call for his immediate release and reaffirm our commitment to the protection of human rights defenders.”

This new episode of persecution, which began at the beginning of 2024 with the arrest of several collaborators of María Corina Machado, the main opposition candidate for the Presidency, who were also implicated in alleged assassination conspiracies, puts on hold the possibility of resuming the conversations.

The United States had managed to accelerate the understanding process by speaking directly with Maduro's senior government, in secret meetings in Doha that took place last year.

This previous round led to the Barbados agreements and the first temporary relaxations of the oil and gas sanctions scheme that weighs on Venezuela, the exchange of prisoners between the United States and Venezuela and, also, to the signing of democratic commitments that both Chavismo —which decided, through judicial means, to block Machado's candidacy and torpedo the primaries in which she was elected—, as the opposition considers unfulfilled.

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