MIAMI — A former fighter pilot jailed in Venezuela in February for his affair with a prominent human rights lawyer is an employee of the U.S. oil company Chevron, The Associated Press has learned. The arrests coincide with other recent repressive actions by Nicolas Maduro's regime. There are tensions over the Biden administration's efforts to forge a path to free and fair elections in the South American country.
Alejandro González was detained at around 10pm on February 9th when counterintelligence agents searched his home near Barcelona's eastern oil center. The only information his family had was a single statement accusing President Maduro's chief prosecutor of disclosing and interfering with national security secrets. of Justice.
“I can't help but think that this is all a nightmare and that it's not really happening,” Alexandra González, the eldest of González's three daughters, said in an interview from her home in Spain. . She said: “We do not know what is going on with his father. We have not spoken to him and have not been able to contact his chosen lawyer.”
González's arrest came hours after he was picked up by his ex-wife, human rights lawyer Rocío San Miguel, at an airport outside Caracas on their way to Miami for a short trip. Attorney General Tarek William Saab accused her of working as a “spy” in one of several U.S.-backed plots that her authorities say have thwarted in recent months. Her daughter, two brothers and another ex-husband, who also served in the air force, were also detained but later released, but UN officials say they tend to target friends and family members of government opponents. It is accused of increasing.
Chevron, Venezuela's only major U.S. oil company, said González's arrest was unrelated to the company. The company said in a statement that it does not comment on personnel matters.
González's daughter scoffed at the idea that her father, who retired as a colonel from Venezuela's air force in 2011, had any involvement in efforts to destabilize the government. Gonzalez said her father was a “normal” hard-working professional who fulfilled his boyhood dream of flying in the cockpit of an F-16 and other aircraft while serving in the Air Force.
After retiring, the 57-year-old worked for Chevron Corp., where he now holds a management position coordinating flights for employees to and from five drilling projects the company operates in OPEC countries in partnership with state oil company PDVSA. is in charge of He is currently being held in a facility in the capital run by Venezuela's military intelligence unit.
“How can someone who hasn't been in the military for 13 years hold state secrets?” the younger Gonzalez said. “has no meaning.”
The arrests threaten to unravel a political agreement negotiated last year between Maduro's envoy, President Joe Biden's administration and a U.S.-backed opposition coalition set up to provide security for the presidential election. U.S. officials claim that this is part of a crackdown on dissent. It will be held this year.
As part of the agreement, the U.S. began easing oil sanctions and allowed further refueling with PDVSA to recover some of the outstanding loans Chevron made to the company as part of a joint venture to develop the oil fields. .
But hopes for a more level playing field appear to be rapidly fading.
In addition to San Miguel's arrest, the country's Supreme Court, solidified by Maduro loyalists, blocked the president's chief rival, María Colina Machado, from running for office. And just this week, Maduro's government arrested or issued warrants for nine of Machado's top aides, including his campaign manager.
It also accused the Observatory of supporting the coup leaders when it called for San Miguel's immediate release, ordered the closure of the United Nations Human Rights Office, and granted its international staff a 72-hour moratorium to leave the country. Ta.
“President Maduro will not abide by any agreement that leads to his involuntary resignation,” William Brownfield, former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, said at a recent Wilson Center event in Washington. Stated. “He correctly calculated that he would not be able to win in a direct confrontation with Maria Colina Machado.”
On Wednesday, an independent panel of experts told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Maduro's government is ramping up its crackdown on actual or perceived opponents ahead of this year's presidential elections. did.
Marta Valinhas, head of the commission established by the council in 2019, told diplomats that Venezuelan lawyers and their colleagues must meet basic requirements, such as appearing before a judge within 48 hours of being detained. He said he was detained in violation of his due process guarantees.
“This act of threatening families and friends of people targeted by the authorities with criminal acts corresponds to a pattern already reported in previous mission reports,” Valinhas said.
Venezuela tops the world's largest oil reserves, but years of mismanagement and more recently U.S. sanctions have destroyed production, and Maduro's leader Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999. Production fell from 3.5 million barrels per day in 2018 to less than 820,000 barrels per day in 2018. February — Near the lowest level in decades.
Chevron has been operating in Venezuela since the 1920s and remained in the country even after many of its competitors fled conflict and the threat of seizure by President Chavez.
San Miguel is a lawyer who runs a small nonprofit organization that monitors Venezuela's security forces. Unlike many of her other government critics who have fled in recent years, she has remained in the troubled country, more concerned with explaining the invisible political maneuvering within the barracks than with putting pressure on the Maduro regime. is focused on.
Saab said in a nationally televised news conference that authorities also have evidence of “payments in dollars from multinational oil companies” to San Miguel for “environmental analysis” on military matters. He did not provide a copy of the payment or identify the company that allegedly paid San Miguel.
González said her father had not had contact with Sao Miguel for almost a year and the couple's marriage ended in a painful divorce in 2023.
__
Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.
