(John Moore/Getty Images)

Dear John,

At WOLA we are increasingly concerned about the human rights situation in Venezuela as the Maduro government is doubling down on repression against opposition and perceived opposition, including human rights defenders.

Yesterday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was given 72 hours to leave Venezuela after the organization  questioned the detention a week ago of prominent human rights activist Rocío San Miguel. For five days the whereabouts of the director of non-profit Control Ciudadano were unknown until it was revealed that she is being held in El Helicoide, the infamous prison where political prisoners in Venezuela are often tortured. Her lawyers and family members have not been able to see her yet.

As I mentioned in an interview with The New York Times  this week, if this can happen to someone of the standing of Rocío San Miguel, what hope can we have for lesser-known activists? 

I told the  Washington Post that this crackdown is happening following the signature of the Barbados agreement which establishes a pathway for presidential elections to take place this year. Yet only last month, Venezuela’s main opposition leader María Corina Machado was banned from running in elections set for 2024.

Despite all of this, as I mentioned to Deutsche Welle this week and last night on Spanish public television , isolating Maduro in the past has been unfruitful, negotiations and competitive elections remain the only path ahead.

In the meantime, in El Salvador irregularities around the counting of votes following elections to the National Assembly on February 4 are also cause for concern. In the run up to these elections, my colleague Ana María Méndez Dardón was quoted in dozens of media outlets in Europe, Latin America and the United States including The Guardian , La Prensa Gráfica and Televisión Española while WOLA President, Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, was quoted by the LA Times,  El Faro and La Razón.

All the best,

Laura Dib

Director for Venezuela

🇻🇪 Today's webinar featuring Dr. Francisco Monaldi (Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy) and WOLA's David Smilde and Laura Dib discussed sanctions, migration and economic interests at play in Venezuela as the country looks to the road ahead. Watch it here.

In April 2022, WOLA launched its one-of-a-kind Border Oversight Database , which documents hundreds of reports of human rights violations and abuses against migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“One of the key aspects of the Refugee Convention was that if somebody is on your soil and they say, ‘I fear for my life if you send me back to my country,’ [we’ll say,] “We're not going to send you back right away, we will at least give you a due process.””  

Adam Isacson,

Director for Defense Oversight

– The World (PRX), How the asylum system became the main avenue for mass migration to the US

"Rocío San Miguel has been working for decades in the defense of fundamental rights, and therefore I think it sends a message to civil society, to people who work in NGOs, to women human rights defenders, that doing such important work for society can be criminalized, can have absolutely negative consequences, such as detention and forced disappearance." This interview is in Spanish.   

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval,

President

– NTN24, "Los defensores de derechos humanos en Venezuela están en riesgo": presidente de WOLA

"It will be important to find constructive ways for 'the United States to continue playing a crucial role in strengthening institutions and transitions to democracy.'" This article is in Spanish.

Maureen Meyer,

Vice President for Programs

– AP News, Principal asesor de Biden para Latinoamérica deja su cargo en marzo

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