Overview

• Venezuela's government has ordered the local U.N. human rights office to suspend operations and given its staff 72 hours to leave, following the detention of human rights activist Rocio San Miguel.
• Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil accused the U.N. office of promoting opposition and behaving in a 'colonialist, abusive' manner.
• Rocio San Miguel, a prominent rights advocate, was detained at an airport in Caracas, accused of involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
• The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed 'deep concern' over San Miguel's detention and called for her immediate release.
• The expulsion of the U.N. human rights agency and San Miguel's arrest mark a significant escalation in the Venezuelan government's crackdown on dissent.