Photos have been published on the social network X and Rocío’s arrest is questioned San Miguel, president of the NGO Citizen Control.
CARACAS. Several non-governmental organizations and opposition political parties in Venezuela denounced in the early hours of this February 11, 2024 that the activist and human rights defender Rocío San Miguel, president of the NGO Citizen Control, was arrested on February 9 and, since then, her family has not known her whereabouts.
According to complaints on social network X, San Miguel was detained at the Maiquetía international airport -which serves Caracas-, where he planned to take a flight with his daughter.
The NGO Justice, Encounter and Forgiveness (JEP) “strongly” rejected the arrest of the president of Control Ciudadano, a “outstanding expert in security and defense issues » that “she must be released immediately.”
«Those close to the activist report that they do not know her whereabouts more than 24 hours after the arrest. We remember that defend human rights and exercise free expression and the right to information are not crimes and are enshrined in the Constitution and international conventions,” said JEP in X.
On this social network, the NGO Provea also demanded its “immediate freedom” and denounced that “this new abuse “It is part of the painful practice of persecution against those who defend and exercise rights.”
In this sense, he assured that San Miguel “has been victim of harassment, persecution and discrimination by the Venezuelan State”, and that his arrest “constitutes a very serious fact that highlights the progressive closure of civic space and the efforts of those who govern to repress critical voices.”
In the opinion of the Justice and Peace Center (Cepaz), this detention “is part of the application of the pattern of criminalization, attacks and threats against human rights defenders. and civil society in general”, which “is exacerbated in electoral contexts”, in reference to this year’s presidential elections.
Los First Justice and Citizen Meeting parties They also rejected the arrest and called on the international community to express its condemnation.
This event occurs almost three weeks after the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, will report the arrest of more than thirty people for allegedly being involved in conspiratorial plans, and that the authorities arrested three collaborators of the presidential candidate of the main opposition coalition, María Corina Machado, accused of being part of a conspiracy.
Last December, more than 60 NGOs asked the UN monitor the “situation of democratic freedoms and human rights” in the country and “pronounce in a timely manner” on this matter in view of the upcoming electoral periods, including the presidential election, when they foresee an increase in “repression and persecution.” EFE