Daniel Lozano
Updated Tuesday, February 13, 2024-02:43
Venezuela Chavismo detains the Hispanic-Venezuelan Rocío San Miguel, a relevant figure of civil society
Venezuela The four Spanish prisoners of Nicolás Maduro
Five relatives of Rocío San Miguel,
a relevant figure of Venezuelan civil society who was illegally detained last Friday, are also missing after being captured by revolutionary agents. Among them,
Miranda San Miguel stands out,
daughter of the renowned human rights activist, who like her mother has
Spanish nationality
and who also
lives in Madrid.
Miranda, who
was enjoying a vacation in
Venezuela
after graduating in Journalism in
Europe,
was accompanying her mother on Friday when she was captured by agents from the
General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM)
at the
Maiquetía international airport.
At that moment, the young woman was free and returned to her home.
According to what one of her relatives told Venezuelan journalist
César Miguel Rondón,
Miranda
was called on Saturday to go to the airport
to pick up her suitcases. Nothing else is known about her since then, although another of her aunts managed to see her from afar at the airport facilities of this military body.
"She was crying," said her aunt.
Minutes later, the one who fell into the
agents'
trap was her father,
Víctor Díaz Paruta, a retired
Air Force
colonel ,
who went to the airport to pick up his daughter. Separated from San Miguel for more than a decade, both maintain a very distant relationship.
The family story is terrifying. One of Miranda's aunts
remained for two hours in front of her interrogator
in a small dark room. During that time she was questioned again and again about alleged accomplices of her sister-in-law, with whom she has no ties.
After the forced disappearance of father and daughter, those who were detained are
Miguel Ángel and Alberto San Miguel,
brothers of the president of the
NGO Citizen Control for Security, Defense and the National Armed Forces. They went to look for them at their house, where another relative,
Alejandro González Canales
, was also detained .
"We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Rocío San Miguel and her family, arbitrarily detained in Venezuela," warned
Agnes Callamard,
general secretary of
Amnesty International (AI) yesterday.
The United Nations
has repeatedly denounced the pattern followed by the revolution against the families of prisoners, especially the military, who are harassed, persecuted and even imprisoned. Several emblematic cases mark the reports of human rights organizations. This practice is called
sippenhaft,
which the Nazis already used to extend to family members the punishment they imposed on the "enemies" of the regime.