What changed

B90184/2024

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on the case of Rocío San Miguel and General Hernández Da Costa, among other political prisoners in Venezuela

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rulesprevious ofresolutions Procedure,on Venezuela,

A. whereas there are over 300 political prisoners in Venezuela;

– having regard to Rule 144 of its Rules of Procedure,

B. whereas on 9 February 2024, Rocío San Miguel, a lawyer and human rights activist with Spanish nationality, was kidnapped by the Venezuelan regime, and sentenced on politically motivated grounds of suspected conspiracy against Nicolás Maduro and his regime; whereas she is currently being detained in El Helicoide prison, which is known for human rights abuses, including torture;

A. whereas on February 9, 2024, the Venezuelan regime arbitrarily arrested Rocío San Miguel, founder and president of the NGO Control Ciudadano; whereas the General Hernández Da Costa was arbitrarily arrested in 2018; whereas these are politically-motivated detentions;

C. whereas the Maduro regime expelled the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) after accusing them of ‘colonialist, abusive’ behaviour and fomenting political opposition, following the UN commissioner’s condemnation of San Miguel’s arrest;

B. whereas Control Ciudadano advocates for citizen oversight of Venezuela's armed forces and led investigations uncovering a series of events such as torture, deaths and arbitrary detentions, committed by the Venezuelan armed forces;

D. whereas General Hernández Da Costa has been a political prisoner since August 2018; whereas on 19 February 2024, he was forcibly transferred to El Rodeo 1 prison, designed to detain political prisoners; whereas an unknown number of prisoners, including some EU citizens, were also transferred; whereas the general suffers from medical ailments that require constant treatment, which he is being denied;

C. whereas the arrests of San Miguel and General Hernández Da Costa are one of many of cases of political persecution against critics; whereas these arrests are motivated by the investigations against the Venezuelan shadowy and corrupt regimen-controlled armed forces; whereas political prisoners in Venezuela face inhumane prison conditions and critical health care is withheld by the regime;

E. whereas four campaign coordinators working for the opposition to the regime’s presidential candidate, María Corina Machado – Juan Freites, Luis Camacaro, Guillermo Lopez and Emil Brandt – have also been detained on political grounds and are incommunicado;

D. whereas two allies of the Venezuelan regime, Russia and Cuba, maintain close cooperation in military and security matters; whereas this cooperation includes Russian mercenaries;

F. whereas in January 2024, the unrecognised National Assembly resumed its consideration of a law seeking to restrict, criminalise and shutter non-governmental organisations;

E. whereas in May 2021, the US Congress affirmed that Venezuela is governed by an authoritarian regime that repress the political opposition and the human rights defenders; whereas the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and its International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) have documented numerous killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, tortures and ill-treatment against opponents of the Maduro regime, which can be considered crimes against humanity;

1. Strongly condemns the Maduro regime for imprisoning hundreds of political prisoners;

1. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the arrests of Rocio San Miguel and of General Hernández Da Costa;

2. Deplores the fact that these prisoners are being held in conditions that contravene the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners;

2. Requests their unconditional and immediate release, and the release of all the political prisoners unjustly and arbitrarily imprisoned by the Venezuelan regime;

3. Demands the immediate unconditional release of all political prisoners and arbitrarily detained persons, and the full restoration of their rights; exhorts the regime to cease its policy of repression and attacks on civil society and the opposition;

3. Deplores the continuous repression by the Venezuelan regime against opposition figures, including torture, enforced disappearances and killings; reiterates its firm and unconditional support for the Venezuelan people;

4. Urges the Chilean authorities to fully investigate the murder of Ronald Ojeda, a former political prisoner who escaped the Maduro regime;

4. Deplores Venezuela's alignment with Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua and other dictatorial regimes;

5. Calls on the VP/HR and the Council to increase sanctions on the regime, including high-level officials, members of the security forces and the regime’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, and Maduro himself;

5. Condemns pressure on the U.N. human rights office in Caracas to shut down after the office criticized Venezuela's decision to detain human rights attorney Rocio San Miguel; Calls on the international community, the EU and in particular the HR/VP, Josep Borrell, its Member States, to impose the necessary sanctions against those individuals from the Venezuelan regime and proxies responsible for violations of human rights against the Venezuelan people, and to suspend all funds and projects destined to Venezuela;

6. Urges the International Criminal Court to include ongoing human rights violations and arbitrary detentions in its investigation into the Maduro regime’s alleged crimes against humanity;

6. Fully supports the ICC investigations into the extensive crimes and acts of repression perpetrated by the Venezuelan regime; calls for the EU to support the initiative of the ICC States Parties to open an investigation into crimes against humanity committed by the Maduro regime and proxies, especially in the case of President Nicolas Maduro and of the Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, in order to hold them responsible to account;

7. Calls on the international community to support a return to democracy in Venezuela, particularly in the light of the upcoming elections, in which the leader of the opposition to the regime, María Corina Machado, must be allowed to fully participate;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR, and the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States.

8. Urges the Venezuelan authorities to reinstate the OHCHR and guarantee its access to prisons, as well as guarantee unhindered access to the UN special procedure mandate-holders;

9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the VP/HR, the Member States, the EU-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Organization of American States, the UN Secretary-General and the Venezuelan regime.