Rocío San Miguel
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).
HRDs have been working under restrictive policies for many years: the Maduro administration has continued the work begun by Chávez in restricting civil space and delegitimising HRDs, repeatedly accusing them of undermining the Venezuelan democracy with the alleged collaboration of the United States. HRDs are discredited and criminalised by state-controlled media (television, radio, print media) on a weekly basis.
