Venezuela: Defamation and threats against human rights defender Ms Rocío San Miguel
Front Line Defenders April 2, 2014
On 25 March 2014, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, made defamatory statements on national television against human rights defender Ms Rocío San Miguel and accused her of being involved in an attempted coup d'etat. A few days previously, on 18 March 2014, an unknown individual approached the human rights defender while she was in her vehicle and issued threats against her.
Rocío San Miguel is a human rights lawyer and president of Control Ciudadano para la Seguridad, la Defensa y la Fuerza Armada Nacional (Citizen Watchdog on Security, Defense and the Armed Forces). The organisation promotes citizens' oversight on issues of national security, armed forces, and defense. It also monitors Venezuela’s commitments to the Rome Statute and the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).
On 25 March 2014, at approximately 7:15pm, in her capacity as president of Control Ciudadano, Rocío San Miguel went to the headquarters of the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) to request a visit to three air force generals, detained at the DGCIM on accusations of plotting a coup d'etat. After approximately 45 minutes, she was informed that the visit was not authorised and that the generals would appear in court the following day, 26 March. Over the course of the evening, Rocío San Miguel reported, by means of her Twitter account, that she considered the arrest of three generals as unconstitutional, as they had not been awarded protections owed to public servants.
That same night, at approximately 10pm, the Venezuelan President appeared on the state channel Venezolana de Televisión, and accused Rocío San Miguel of involvement in an attempted coup d'etat. It is reported that he stated, "there are several links to opposition sectors, one of them is a person named Rocío San Miguel. She is the link to the radical sector of the opposition, of the Voluntad Popular [Popular Will] party. She is the link. She is fully involved in this attempted coup." He continued to say that the human rights defender "is paid by these international organizations [who have conspired against Venezuela] for a long time."
On 27 March, the human rights defender submitted a complaint to the Attorney General about the President's statement. A few days previously, on 18 March 2014, an unknown individual approached Rocío San Miguel while she was in her vehicle, and threatened her as follows: “San Miguel we are going to break you". While the identity of the individual remains unknown, the threat appear to be linked to the work carried out by the human rights defender and Control Ciudadano.
The incident occurred in an area extensively covered by CCTV cameras. However, despite requests, the human rights defender has not obtained access to footage, which would allow to identify the individual who threatened her.
Rocío San Miguel was granted precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on 18 January 2012, which the Venezuelan State refused to grant in a court ruling in March 2012.
Front Line Defenders is concerned about the defamatory comments publicly made against Rocío San Miguel, particularly as they come from the President of the country and they may have the effect of encouraging further threats and attacks against her.
Front Line Defenders is further concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Rocío San Miguel, in light of the non-implementation of the precautionary measures granted in her favour.
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