Spanish diplomacy tries to mediate tensions in Venezuela

After 10 days of being held incommunicado, activist Rocío San Miguel, detained by the Government of Venezuela after being accused of being part of an alleged conspiracy, received a visit from her daughter.

The concession came after a week of tensions in the country due to the tightening of repression against Chavismo dissidents and after the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, spoke by telephone on Saturday with his counterpart, Yvan Gil, about the situation of the lawyer and human rights defender.

Spanish diplomacy tries to mediate in the Venezuelan crisis.

The case of San Miguel, a Spanish national like her ex-partner Alejandro González, also detained for the same case, has been a scandal due to the high profile of the activist, a relevant figure in Venezuelan civil society.

Added to this were the complaints for violations of due process, formulated by their lawyers, and the parallel measures that the Government of Nicolás Maduro has taken, such as the expulsion of the representatives of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights after having requested guarantees during the processing of San Miguel.

Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay, the United States and the European Union have expressed their concern about what happened in Venezuela in recent weeks.

Spain went one step further and opened a channel for dialogue through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Venezuela, civil society organizations have called this Tuesday for a rally at the headquarters of the Spanish Embassy in Caracas to request the release of the activist and all Spanish citizens who are imprisoned for political causes.

At the end of December 2020, the Spanish Government recalled its ambassador at the time, Jesús Silva, without naming a successor.

Silva had been accused by the Maduro Government of facilitating the departure to Spain of Leopoldo López, a political prisoner who escaped house arrest and took refuge in the residence of the Spanish ambassador.

A year ago, Caracas again received the credentials of diplomat Ramón Santos Martínez, in the midst of the thaw with Venezuela that occurred with the arrival of Joe Biden.

In other cases, through the mediation of former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who was used as an interlocutor between the parties in other attempts at negotiation with the opposition, political prisoners have been released in Venezuela.

Rocío San Miguel is accused of espionage for being part of an alleged plot called White Bracelet that supposedly planned the assassination of Chavismo leaders and President Maduro.

She was detained early on Friday, February 9, at the Maiquetía airport, when she was going to take a flight to Miami with her daughter.

Two days later, the Public Ministry reported her arrest, but the lawyer's whereabouts were unknown for five days until the judge before whom she was presented designated her place of confinement, for which human rights organizations have denounced the repetition of a pattern of forced disappearance that recurs in the arrests of opponents and activists critical of the Government.

Prosecutor Tarek William Saab presented this Monday a series of maps of Venezuela seized during a raid on the activist's home.

The sheets, as well as other documents found from other alleged suspects involved in the case, are part of the evidence with which the Venezuelan justice system incriminates her.

San Miguel's daughter, Miranda Díaz, who was also detained for four days in the case and was released with precautionary measures, obtained authorization to visit her on Sunday in El Helicoide, the intelligence service prison.

“She was able to verify that her mother, despite the unjust deprivation of her freedom, is strengthened and very confident of her innocence.

That there is nothing that commits her to the crimes they are accused of,” said Joel García, part of her defense team.

He also denounced that they are still not allowed to act as defenders of the detainee, assisted in the presentation hearing by lawyers appointed by the Government.

Meeting between negotiators

This Monday, the delegations of the Government and the Unitary Platform met again after the crisis generated by the disqualification of María Corina Machado, the candidate chosen in the primaries to face Nicolás Maduro in the presidential elections of this 2024. The session was promoted by the facilitators of the Kingdom of Norway and was held in Caracas, at the headquarters of the National Assembly.

After the meeting, each party gave their version of what was discussed and there was evidence of a disagreement.

Jorge Rodríguez, president of Parliament and representative of Maduro in the negotiation, pointed out that the opposition presented its proposals for the electoral schedule, just as other sectors related to Chavismo have done, to present it to the National Electoral Council, which is the entity that according to law must plan and call the elections in Venezuela.

“We are going to analyze the proposal that the Unitary Platform brings so that everyone feels included in this process of forming an electoral schedule.

We want to insist that this is the way we democrats do it and not those who always have ulterior motives or second agendas,” he noted.

Gerardo Blyde, head of the opposition delegation, pointed out that they delivered to the Norwegian facilitator Dag Naylander a document in which they denounced the escalation of repression in Venezuela and the failure by the Government of the Barbados agreement on several points ranging from the persecution of the organizers of the primaries and the disqualification of María Corina Machado and Henrique Capriles until the arrest of San Miguel and the expulsion of the members of the UN.

“Both parties are obliged to maintain a climate of peace so that there can be clean and transparent elections.

"All the escalation of repression that has been increasing does not contribute anything to that peace," said the leader, who highlighted that he agreed to meet in Caracas, on an exceptional basis, despite the fact that the memorandum of understanding for the negotiation establishes that the meetings must be outside the country.

Blyde also claimed that no progress has been made with the agreed electoral guarantees such as carrying out a special operation to register and update the Electoral Registry or the invitation of international observers.

Even so, they reiterated that their intention is to continue on the electoral route and that, according to tradition, the presidential elections must be held in December.

Chavismo has shown its interest in holding the elections before that date.

This week, it is expected, everyone will show their cards.

Follow all the information from El PAÍS América on

Facebook

and

X

, or in our

weekly newsletter

.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I am already a subscriber

_