World
Detention of Venezuelan human rights activist and attorney inspires protest
Human rights organizations in Venezuela on Wednesday demanded the release of a prominent attorney and activist whose detention last week has heightened concerns over the government’s use of repression against real and perceived adversaries.
The representatives of several rights groups expressed concern over Rocío San Miguel’s well-being and condemned her inability to access legal representation of her choice.
“The prolonged isolation and lack of communication to which the defender Rocío San Miguel and her family have been subjected represent forms of cruel and inhuman treatment, harmful to the psychological and moral freedom of the person,” Claudia Carrillo, coordinator of victims’ psychological care at the Venezuela-based organization Cofavic, said during a press conference in Caracas, the capital.
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San Miguel was detained Friday at the airport near Caracas while she and her daughter awaited a flight to Miami. Her arrest set off a wave of criticism inside and outside the South American country.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab on Wednesday reiterated the accusations against San Miguel he announced earlier in the week, telling reporters that the activist was allegedly linked to an alleged plot to kill President Nicolás Maduro and other officials and attack military units.
Saab said members of the military arrested in connection with the foiled plot revealed her alleged role to authorities. He claimed to have evidence but did not reveal any.
San Miguel, 57, is specialized in researching Venezuela’s shadowy, often corrupt, armed forces. She is the head of the non-governmental organization Control Ciudadano, which focuses on human rights, security and the armed forces.
Following San Miguel’s detention, authorities also took into custody her daughter, Miranda Díaz, ex-husband, Victor Díaz, two brothers and former partner.
Sign reads from Spanish as “Release Rocio!,” referring to lawyer and activist Rocio San Miguel who was recently arrested, outside office of the UN Development Program in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Feb 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Authorities have not explicitly acknowledged the detention of Miranda and Victor Díaz. But Minnie Díaz, Victor’s sister, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that father and daughter have been released on conditions that they check in regularly with authorities, do not travel outside the country and do not speak to the media.
Minnie Díaz earlier told the AP that San Miguel and Miranda are dual citizens of Venezuela and Spain and that she hoped Spain’s consulate would intervene.
Saab said San Miguel and her former partner, Alejandro Jose Gonzales de Canales Plaza, had initial hearings Monday. She faces charges of treason, conspiracy and terrorism, while Gonzales’ charges include revealing state and military secrets and obstruction of justice.
One of San Miguel’s attorneys, Juan González, said he had been told she would be held at the Helicoide prison — the most infamous institution for political prisoners.
The groups who held Wednesday’s news conference were among more than 200 local non-governmental organizations that earlier this week demanded the release of San Miguel and her family, and urged the international community to condemn the actions against them.
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Carrillo said San Miguel’s detention is having an “intimidating effect” and seeks to “generate polarization” and mistrust among citizens.
A U.N.-backed panel investigating human rights violations in Venezuela in September reported that the government has intensified efforts to curtail democratic freedoms with use of threats, surveillance and harassment ahead of this year’s presidential election. The panel noted that Maduro’s government shifted tactics with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing its use of targeted repression against politicians, labor leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and other real or perceived opponents.
San Miguel’s detention came more than three months after the U.S. government rolled back some economic sanctions against Venezuela after Maduro committed to hold an election in the second half of 2024, lift bans preventing adversaries from holding office, and release political prisoners. Maduro’s promises were part of an agreement signed on the Caribbean island of Barbados between his representatives and those of a faction of the opposition.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has condemned the detentions and urged Maduro to follow through on his commitments. The office of human rights at the United Nations and the Canadian government have also expressed concern.
“We urge her immediate release & respect for her right to legal defense,” the U.N. tweeted Tuesday.
World
Trump administration rejects UN migration declaration, says ‘mass migration was never safe’
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The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that it refused to back an International Migration Review Forum “progress” declaration, accusing the U.N. of efforts to “advocate and facilitate replacement immigration in the United States and across the broader West.”
The U.S. did not participate in the second International Migration Review Forum, held May 5–8 at U.N. Headquarters in New York, and will not support the declaration, the department said in a statement on Monday.
The forum is the U.N.’s main global platform for member states to review implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, according to the U.N. Network on Migration. The 2026 forum was scheduled to produce an intergovernmentally agreed “Progress Declaration.”
President Donald Trump ended U.S. participation in the U.N. process to develop the Global Compact for Migration during his first term in 2017, and now the State Department says the federal government will again affirm its opposition.
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President Donald Trump ended U.S. participation in the U.N. process to develop the Global Compact for Migration during his first term in 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The Global Compact was adopted in 2018 after the U.S. withdrew from the process. The U.N. and International Organization for Migration describe the compact as a cooperative framework intended to improve migration governance across countries.
“As Secretary Rubio said, opening our doors to mass migration was a grave mistake that threatens the cohesion of our societies and the future of our peoples,” the department’s statement reads. “ In recent years, Americans witnessed first-hand how mass immigration laid waste to our communities: crime and chaos at the border, states of emergency in major cities, and billions of taxpayer dollars funneled towards hotels, plane tickets, cell phones and cash cards for migrants.”
“Much of this was driven by UN agencies and their partners, which did not just facilitate the invasion of our country, but proceeded to redistribute our own people’s wealth and resources to millions of foreigners from the worst corners of the world,” it continued.
The department argued there was nothing safe, orderly or regular about any of this, adding that the costs “were borne primarily by working Americans forced to compete for scarce jobs, housing, and social services.”
“The UN has little to say about them,” the department wrote.
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The U.S. refused to participate in an International Migration Review Forum. ( Alex Brandon / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
“President Trump is focused on the interests of Americans, not foreigners or globalist bureaucrats,” the statement reads. ”The United States will not support a process that imposes, overtly or by stealth, guidelines, standards, or commitments that constrain the American people’s sovereign, democratic right to make decisions in the best interests of our country.”
The department concluded its statement by saying its goal is not to “manage” migration, but to “foster remigration.”
In a thread on X also announcing the move to object to the declaration, the department said UN agencies “systematically facilitated mass migration into America and Europe, even as citizens of these nations called for restrictions on migration.” It added that U.N. materials related to the Global Compact call for expanding regular migration pathways and reference “regularization” of migrants.
The International Organization for Migration says the forum is held every four years for countries to review progress and shape next steps on migration policy. IOM, which coordinates the U.N. Network on Migration, says the network includes 39 U.N. agencies working to support countries on migration issues.
The department alleged that “UN agencies – working with the NGOs they fund – established a migration corridor through Central America and to the U.S. border,” the post reads. “As the American people suffered under an unprecedented wave of mass migration, the UN was on the ground pipelining migrants to our southern border.”
The State Department said its goal is not to “manage” migration, but to “foster remigration.” (Denis Balibouse/File Photo/Reuters)
“After facilitating mass migration to the United States, UN agencies condemned the deportation of illegal immigrants,” the post continued. “While the United Kingdom faced unprecedented illegal boat crossings, UN agencies condemned plans for deportations. UN officials lobbied aviation regulators to prevent the deportation of migrants – an appalling violation of the UK’s national sovereignty.”
The U.N. Network on Migration describes the compact as “non-legally binding.” A U.N.-hosted text of the compact also says it respects states’ sovereign right to determine their national migration policies and to distinguish between regular and irregular migration status.
The declaration itself says the Global Compact is a cooperative framework and acknowledges that no state can address migration alone, while also upholding the sovereignty of states.
The department pushed back on the compact’s framing of migration as “safe, orderly and regular.”
“For the citizens of Western nations, mass migration was never safe. It introduced new security threats, imposed financial strains, and undermined the cohesion of our societies,” it wrote.
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“The United States will not legitimize global compacts that enable mass migration into America or Western nations,” the post added.
U.N. materials frame the compact as a cooperative framework for issues that often cross borders, including labor migration, border management, migrant protections and development. U.N. agencies, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, describe the IMRF as a state-led review process with participation from relevant stakeholders.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.N. for comment.
World
Bolivia issues warrant for Evo Morales’s arrest after court no-show
The ex-Bolivian president is on trial for allegedly fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office.
Published On 12 May 2026
A Bolivian judge has found former President Evo Morales in contempt of court and reissued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to turn up for the start of his trial on charges of trafficking a minor.
The ruling on Monday renewed tensions in the South American country, with supporters of Morales warning they would “throw the country into turmoil” if the former leader is arrested.
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Morales, who is Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, is accused of fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office. The parents of the teen are accused of consenting to the relationship in exchange for favours from Morales.
The former socialist leader, who governed from 2006 to 2019, has rejected the accusations.
Morales did not attend the scheduled start of his trial on Monday in the southern city of Tarija, forcing the proceedings to be suspended.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office said Morales’s “unjustified absence” confirmed his fugitive status and warranted an arrest order as well as a travel ban.
The former president has been hiding from the law in his central coca-growing stronghold of Chapare since late 2024, guarded by Indigenous supporters who have promised to resist any attempt to capture him.
‘Ready for battle’
“They think that by arresting Evo Morales, they will succeed in quelling and demobilising the movement. They are very much mistaken,” supporter Dieter Mendoza said on Kawsachun Coca radio on Monday. “If they touch Evo Morales, this will cause an upheaval … There will be an insurgency across Bolivia.”
Mendoza urged residents of the Cochabamba Tropics to remain on “high alert” and “ready for battle”.
Authorities first issued an arrest warrant for Morales in October 2024, but could not execute it after his supporters blocked roads for 24 days, preventing officers from reaching the region where he remains sheltered.
Morales was already declared in contempt of court in January 2025, when he did not show for a pretrial detention hearing.
Wilfredo Chavez, one of his lawyers, told the AFP news agency on Friday that neither Morales nor his lawyers would show up in court, as they had not been “properly notified”. The lawyer said the court did not send the summons to Morales’s address, but had instead served it through an edict.
Morales, who rose from dire poverty to become one of Latin America’s longest-serving leaders, has slammed those “that persecute me and condemn me in record time”.
His refusal to give up power in 2019 after three terms led to a tumultuous exit that cast a shadow over nearly 14 years of economic progress and poverty reduction.
Forced to resign after elections tainted by fraud, he slipped away into exile in Mexico and later Argentina, but returned home a year later.
He failed to make a comeback last year after being barred from seeking a fourth term in presidential elections.
World
Massive 11,000-carat ruby believed to be second-largest ever found in conflict-ridden country
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A massive ruby unearthed in Burma is being hailed as the second-largest ever discovered in the conflict-ridden country.
The ruby weighs about 11,000 carats — about 4.8 pounds — and was unearthed near Mogok in the Mandalay region, the center of Burma’s gem industry and an area affected by ongoing conflict, according to The Associated Press, citing state media.
The stone was found in mid-April, shortly after the country’s traditional New Year celebrations.
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Burma’s newly discovered ruby is displayed at the president’s office in Naypyitaw on May 7, 2026. (Myanmar Military True News Information Team/AP)
Although it is roughly half the size of a 21,450-carat ruby discovered in 1996, experts say the new find could be more valuable because of its higher quality, the outlet reported.
It has a purplish-red color with slight yellow tones, moderate transparency and a highly reflective surface.
Burmese President Min Aung Hlaing and his cabinet have already inspected the stone in the country’s capital of Naypyidaw.
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Burmese officials inspect a newly discovered ruby at the president’s office in Naypyidaw on May 7, 2026. (Myanmar Military True News Information Team/AP)
Burma produces up to 90% of the world’s rubies, mostly from Mogok and nearby Mong Hsu.
The gem trade — both legal and illegal — is a major source of income in the country.
However, rights groups, including Global Witness, have long urged jewelers to avoid buying Burmese gemstones, saying the trade helps fund the country’s military governments, according to The Associated Press.
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This photo taken on May 16, 2019, shows miners working in a ruby mine in Mogok, north of Mandalay. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP via Getty Images)
Gem mining also finances ethnic armed groups fighting for autonomy, contributing to Burma’s long-running conflicts.
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The mining regions remain unstable.
Mogok was seized in July 2024 by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic armed group. Control later returned to the military under a ceasefire deal brokered by China late last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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