A day later, no one knows anything about Rocío San Miguel. The human rights activist and head of the NGO Citizen Control, one of the public speakers with the most knowledge of the country's military world, was arrested at the airport on Sunday and her whereabouts are still unknown. To the arrest that has caused enormous excitement and concern in the country, this Monday was added the arrest of her daughter Miranda Díaz San Miguel, who wanted to travel with her to Spain on the 9th; his brothers Miguel Ángel and Alberto San Miguel; his father Victor Díaz Paruta and Alberto González, another relative. Her whereabouts are also unknown.
The Attorney General of the Chavista regime, Tarek William Saab, admitted this Sunday that San Miguel was arrested, without saying anything about the place of her detention. Saab added that San Miguel had been accused by some recently detained soldiers of planning an alleged military coup against Chavismo. “There is an arrest warrant against her because she was linked and mentioned in the conspiracy and attempted assassination called “White Bracelet,” Saab said.
For several weeks, especially after the release of Alex Saab under the Barbados agreements, the government of Nicolás Maduro has clearly sharpened its tone towards its interlocutors, doubling the demands and ignoring agreed paths, denouncing the existence of a conspiracy in which the opposition was allegedly involved. Chavismo has already apparently definitively denied the participation of the candidate chosen by the opposition in its primaries, María Corina Machado.
The arrest of San Miguel – an activist highly respected for her thoughtful and informed statements in the areas of national security and defense – has caused enormous concern in the country's democratic, political and civil leadership. In the last few hours, a public statement signed by 205 civil organizations and 415 people was issued calling on the government for their immediate release.
“We alert the world that the Maduro regime’s repressive onslaught continues. Rocío San Miguel, human rights defender and president of Citizen Control, was arrested. We call for national and international solidarity with her and all political prisoners and persecuted people in Venezuela,” said Machado, presidential candidate of the Venezuelan opposition.
Juan González Taguaruco, one of San Miguel's defense attorneys, explains: “It is not known which police department arrested her, where she is detained, which court she is under and who the prosecutor is leading the investigation.” “Here we can totally legitimately speak of enforced disappearances. Attorney General Saab knew that he had to submit it within a maximum of 48 hours and he failed to do so,” he added.
San Miguel, a Venezuelan of Spanish parentsand her daughter Miranda were surprised by the announcement of a judicial investigation as they prepared to board a flight to Spain from Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetia, half an hour from Caracas.
González Taguaruco notes that San Miguel was completely unaware of the legal action that was waiting for her at the immigration checkpoint at the airport while she lived her life in complete normality and innocence. “We spoke to Miranda, Rocío's daughter, when they arrested her and then we found out that they arrested her too. “We are extremely concerned about this decision-making chain.”
Provea, one of the country's most militant and active NGOs in defending human rights, also released a protest statement calling on “the various bodies of the United Nations and the entire international human rights system to speak out.” I am firmly committed to the release of Rocío San Miguel.”
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