Caracas, Feb. 13 (EFE).- Venezuela’s Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday denounced a “fierce international campaign” against the country’s justice system following the arrest of activist Rocío San Miguel, president of the NGO Control Ciudadano, and five of her close associates and relatives for “alleged involvement” in a conspiracy.
“We denounce a fierce campaign from abroad against the judiciary and the Venezuelan state by the same sectors that have always despised Venezuela’s democratic institutions and at the same time have protected the attempts of magnicide and coups d’état against Venezuela orchestrated by the imperial powers of the West,” said Attorney General Tarek William Saab in a statement published on his X .
He assured that this “campaign” aims to “undermine the investigations” and “generate impunity” by “trying to delegitimize the actions carried out by Venezuelan institutions to combat violence and terrorism.”
San Miguel was detained on Friday at the Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas while trying to board a plane with her daughter.
On Tuesday, prior to the statement by the Attorney General’s Office, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela expressed its “deep concern” in a statement explaining that, according to the Inter-American Convention on Enforced Disappearances, to which Venezuela is a party, “the denial of information on the whereabouts” of a detained person “is one of the constituent elements of enforced disappearance.”
“The belated and incomplete information on the whereabouts and state of health of San Miguel and her daughter fulfills the objective of instilling fear among those who express criticism of the Government, making the State responsible under international law,” stated Patricia Tappatá, a member of the fact-finding mission.
The statement from the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office said that the court hearing of the six individuals took place “on the night of Monday, February 12, within the appropriate legal deadlines and in strict compliance with human rights and constitutional guarantees.”
But the UN mission’s statement said the arrest was part of a “wave of repression against opponents that is intensifying nationwide.”
“These are not isolated incidents, but rather a series of events that appear to be part of a coordinated plan to silence critics and perceived opponents,” said Marta Valiñas, chair of the fact-finding mission.
The statement expressed concern about “several recent acts that contravene international law,” including the arrests and threats of arrest of of the National Electoral Commission, and the disqualification from public office of opposition leader María Corina Machado.
“The Venezuelan State has violated the human rights of dozens of people when investigating alleged conspiratorial groups, depriving those investigated, detained and prosecuted of the most elementary rights,” said Francisco Cox, a member of the fact-finding mission.
Local and international human rights organizations condemned the “enforced disappearance” on Monday.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, through its X, recalled that San Miguel is a beneficiary of precautionary measures and urged the Venezuelan State “to provide information on her whereabouts and to ensure respect for her legal rights and the presumption of innocence.
The UN Human Rights Council established the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, which is part of the UN Human Rights Council, in September 2019 to assess alleged human rights violations committed since 2014.
The mission will present an oral update on its investigations in March 2024 and its report in September. EFE gcs-aig/ics/mcd
