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In Extraordinary Move, Venezuela Expels U.N. Human Rights Agency
The agency has 72 hours to leave the country, marking a “drastic hardening” of conditions inside the South American nation.
Julie Turkewitz, Genevieve Glatsky and
Julie Turkewitz and Genevieve Glatsky reported from Bogotá, Colombia, and Isayen Herrera from Caracas, Venezuela
A United Nations agency that monitors and defends human rights was ordered on Thursday to leave Venezuela by the government of President Nicolás Maduro, an extraordinary move that will further strip the country of foreign oversight at a time when its government stands accused of intensifying repression.
The announcement by Yván Gil, the foreign minister, comes just days after the detention and disappearance of Rocío San Miguel, a prominent security expert and human rights advocate.
Following her detention, several U.N. entities issued online statements expressing concern about the arrest, some calling it part of a pattern in which the government tries to silence critics through intimidation.
Mr. Gil said he was giving the staff of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 72 hours to “abandon” the country.
In a statement on national television, he accused the U.N. agency of becoming a tool for the “coup-plotters and terrorists” who he said have conspired against Mr. Maduro — and added that the agency had been questioning his government.
“In no state is this tolerable,” he announced.
He provided no evidence to support his claims.
Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based Venezuela expert for International Crisis Group, said the expulsion of the human rights agency, combined with Ms. San Miguel’s arrest, “marks a drastic hardening” by Mr. Maduro’s government of its actions against political opponents and critics.
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