WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House expressed great concern over reports of the arrest of human rights activist Rocio San Miguel and her family in Venezuela.
San Miguel, president of the NGO Control Ciudadano, which advocates for citizen oversight of Venezuela’s armed forces, was arrested on charges of involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. is closely monitoring the situation and called on Maduro to meet his government’s commitments to hold elections this year.
“Mr. Maduro needs to meet the commitments that he made back in the fall about how they are going to treat civil society, political activists, as well as opposition parties,” Kirby said.
Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek Saab, stated that San Miguel had been arrested for her alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Maduro and other high-ranking officials.
San Miguel’s legal team has requested information from Venezuelan authorities following her arrest but has not received a response. Human rights groups say her lawyers were not present at her arraignment on Monday.
The United Nations’ human rights office called for San Miguel’s immediate release and her right to legal defense, stating that her “whereabouts remain unknown, potentially qualifying her detention as an enforced disappearance.”
Maduro’s election deal with the opposition led to the temporary easing of economically debilitating oil sanctions on Venezuela. However, Washington began reimposing sanctions last month after Venezuela’s top court upheld a ban blocking the candidacy of the leading opposition presidential hopeful.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason with additional reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Mayela Armas; editing by Rami Ayyub)
