Rocío San Miguel

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is San Miguel and the second or maternal family name is Sosa.

Rocío San Miguel Sosa (born 1966 in Caracas, Venezuela)^[1] is a lawyer and human rights activist, specialising in military issues. She is also the president of the NGO Control Ciudadano, a civil association whose objective is the supervision of citizens in terms of national security, defense, and the armed forces.^[2] She also supervises the commitments that the Venezuelan state has to the Rome Statute and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.^[3]

Rocío San Miguel
San Miguel at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2017
Born	Rocío San Miguel Sosa 1966 Caracas, Venezuela
Nationality	Venezuelan
Occupation(s)	Lawyer, activist

On 9 February 2024, she was detained by Venezuelan security officials. After being held incommunicado for ten days and without her whereabouts being known, it was learned that she was being held in El Helicoide. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have rejected the detention, described it as a enforced disappearance, and demanded her immediate release, recalling that she has a precautionary measure of protection from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Career

Rocío San Miguel is also the president of the NGO Control Ciudadano, a civil association whose objective is the supervision of citizens in terms of national security, defense, and the armed forces.^[2] She also supervises the commitments that the Venezuelan state has to the Rome Statute and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.^[3]

Harassment and defamation

Rocío San Miguel has suffered from constant harassment from groups hired by the Venezuelan government and from anonymous people, as well as from defamation through various methods on television, radio, and in print. On 18 January 2012, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights issued cautionary methods of protection for San Miguel and her daughter.^[3]

Months later, on 29 June 2012, the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) broke into the house of her brother, José Manuel San Miguel. On 25 March 2014, president Nicolás Maduro made defamatory statements in a national broadcast against San Miguel, and accused her of being involved in an attempted coup. A few days before, on 18 March 2014, a stranger approached her while she was in her vehicle and threatened her repeatedly. On 2 May 2014, the then-Minister for Interior and Justice, Miguel Rodríguez Torres, accused San Miguel of being a spy. San Miguel has also been repeatedly attacked by Diosdado Cabello on his television show Con el Mazo Dando.^[3]

Arrest

Main article: Detention of Rocío San Miguel

On 9 February 2024 she was detained by Venezuelan security officials,^[4][5] at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, along with her daughter. The same day her father, her two brothers and another relative also were arrested.^[5][6][7] After being held incommunicado for ten days and without her whereabouts being known, her daughter was able to visit her in El Helicoide.^[8][9]

Human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, PROVEA and the Women's Broad Front, have rejected the detention, described it as a enforced disappearance and demanding her immediate release. Amnesty International specifically the precautionary measure of protection issued in her favor by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.^[5]

See also

• Alfredo Romero
• Gonzalo Himiob
• Carlos Correa
• Liliana Ortega
• Political prisoners in Venezuela
• Enforced disappearances in Venezuela

References

1. Castro, Maolis (22 February 2019). "Rocío San Miguel: "El goteo de las deserciones militares está erosionando la roca"". El País. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
2. Vinogradoff, Ludmila (29 August 2017). "Rocío San Miguel, especialista venezolana en materia militar: "La revuelta militar se desinfló en Venezuela"". ABC. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
3. "ROCÍO SAN MIGUEL". Defiendo DDHH. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
4. "Denuncian detención de la defensora de DD HH Rocío San Miguel". El Nacional. 10 February 2024.
5. "Conocida activista contra el régimen de Maduro fue detenida por supuesta "conspiración de magnicidio"". El País (in Spanish). 12 February 2024. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
6. Zuzunaga Ruiz, Roger (13 February 2024). "¿Quién es Rocío San Miguel, la experta en temas militares acusada de "traición a la patria" y "terrorismo" en Venezuela?". El Comercio (in Spanish). ISSN 1605-3052. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
7. Moleiro, Alonso (12 February 2024). "La detención de varios familiares de la activista Rocío San Miguel aumenta la tensión en Venezuela". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2024.
8. "Rocío San Miguel en El Helicoide, la siniestra cárcel chavista, "fortalecida y convencida de su inocencia"". El Mundo. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
9. Brazón, Ana María Rodríguez (19 February 2024). "Venezuela: Rocío San Miguel recibe visita de su hija luego de 10 días de aislamiento". El Tiempo. Retrieved 11 March 2024.

Further reading

• Buschschlüter, Vanessa (13 February 2024). "Rocío San Miguel: Concern grows for detained Venezuelan activist". BBC News. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
• Garcia Cano, Regina (14 February 2024). "Human rights groups in Venezuela demand release of prominent detained attorney and activist". Associated Press. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
• "In Venezuela, you're a critic one day and arrested the next". New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
• "Prominent Venezuelan human rights attorney's whereabouts are unknown days after detention". NBC News. Associated Press. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
• "La activista venezolana Rocío San Miguel cumple un mes detenida: sigue incomunicada y recluida en El Helicoide" [Venezuelan activist Rocio San Miguel has been detained for a month: she remains incommunicado and detained in El Helicoide]. Infobae (in Spanish). 8 March 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
• "Rocío San Miguel tiene casi tres meses sin que le concedan derecho a la defensa" [It has been almost three months without Rocío San Miguel being granted the right to defense]. El Nacional (in Spanish). 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.

External links

• Control Ciudadano website