Pedro Urruchurtu spoke to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday about what he had endured at the hands of Nicolás Maduro’s regime while being forced to shelter in place for over 400 days. Urruchurtu and four other members of Venezuela’s political opposition were freed in May in a successful U.S. rescue mission.

He and his colleagues were effectively trapped inside the Argentine Embassy in Caracas — where the opposition members fled to, and were sheltered due to the diplomatic status of the embassy. 

The opposition figures were under siege by regime forces who made their lives extremely difficult due to their control of the utilities. Urruchurtu told the council he had endured «five months without electricity, three minutes of water every ten days, rifles pointed at the windows, and dogs trained to bite; only because those in power considered it a crime to direct the campaigns of Maria Corina Machado in the opposition primaries and Edmundo González in the presidential elections. Both won.»

OPINION: AMERICA NEEDS A VENEZUELA DEAL THAT ONLY PRESIDENT TRUMP CAN DELIVER

«Today I am here despite the state, and not thanks to it, because if it were up to it, I would be missing or dead,» Urruchurtu said.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the council that since May 1, 2024, the human rights situation in Venezuela has only gotten worse. The people have experienced «arbitrary detentions, violations of due process and enforced disappearances, amid continued allegations of torture and ill-treatment.»

Türk revealed that his office had documented 32 people — 15 of them adolescents — who reported being tortured and ill-treated in detention. He also noted that 28 people had been subjected to enforced disappearance after the country’s parliamentary elections, which took place in May 2025. He said their whereabouts remain unknown and that at least 12 of them were foreign nationals who «do not have access to consular assistance.»

The Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 26, 2025. (Reuters/Denis Balibouse)

VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION PROMISES REPARATIONS TO LAKEN RILEY’S FAMILY, OTHER VICTIMS OF TREN DE ARAGUA VIOLENCE

«The world must no longer look away from the brutal reality of what the once-beautiful Venezuela has become. Nicolás Maduro and his enforcers are running a criminal narco-terrorist dictatorship that jails political opponents, tortures dissidents, and crushes any hope of free expression. Pedro’s voice today represents the cries of thousands of Venezuelans who remain imprisoned, persecuted or forced into exile, as slaves to the regime,» UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer told Fox News Digital.

Venezuelan opposition members Humberto Villalobos, Omar Gonzalez, Claudia Macero, Magalli Meda and Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli are pictured at the Argentine embassy, in Caracas, Venezuela, where they have sought asylum, after Argentine diplomats were expelled from Venezuela, Aug. 1, 2024. (Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria )

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a post on X on May 6 that the opposition members, including Urruchurtu, had been rescued in «a precise operation» and brought to the U.S. A few weeks later, Rubio met with the released opposition members. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that Rubio had commended the Venezuelan opposition members for their «bravery in the face of Maduro’s relentless repression and tyranny.»

Neuer also expressed gratitude for the Trump administration and Rubio’s actions, which led to Urruchurtu’s release.

«Thank you to the Trump administration and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, for their critical role in securing Pedro’s release and the release of his comrades. Once again, proving that strong, principled diplomacy saves lives and advances the cause of freedom for the world,» Neuer told Fox News Digital.

Negociaciones

Reservas

An influential House committee is demanding that former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and three other former top White House staffers appear before Congress to testify about the alleged cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline.

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has been on the hunt for who was making decisions in Biden’s inner circle during the president’s apparent mental decline.

On Friday, he sent letters to Karine-Pierre and former White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, former senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and former special assistant to the president Ian Sams, demanding they present themselves for transcribed interviews with the oversight committee.

The letters are part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into the alleged attempted cover-up of Biden’s decline and the potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive actions by senior White House officials usurping Biden’s presidential authority.

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In his letters, Comer says the committee believes that the four top Biden staffers have «critical» information on «who made key decisions and exercised the powers of the executive branch during the previous administration, possibly without former President Biden’s consent.»

The letter to Jean-Pierre stated that as White House press secretary and a top Biden confidante, «you were not only near the president daily, but you were ‘alongside the ranks of the president’s top confidantes.’»

«Your assertion, on multiple occasions, that President Biden’s decline was attributable to such tactics as ‘cheap fakes’ or ‘misinformation’ cannot go without investigation,» wrote Comer.

He said that «if White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition — or to perform his duties — Congress may need to consider a legislative response.»

REP COMER ON A HUNT FOR BIDEN DECISION-MAKER IN THE ADMIN’S ‘INNER CIRCLE’ 

Former President Joe Biden, left, and first lady Jill Biden arrive on Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Aug. 5, 2024, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Comer set interview dates in late August and early September and gave the four senior officials until July 4 to confirm they would comply with the demands voluntarily or if they will «require a subpoena to compel your attendance for a deposition.»

Jean-Pierre, Zients, Bates and Sams are the latest former Biden senior officials to receive a congressional summons from Comer as part of the Oversight Committee’s investigation into the alleged cover-up. The chairman also issued subpoenas to Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, and Anthony Bernal, former assistant to the president and senior advisor to the first lady, after they refused to appear before the committee voluntarily.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Comer said that «as part of our aggressive investigation into the cover-up of his cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized executive actions, we must hear from those who aided and abetted this farce.»

EXCLUSIVE: COMER HAILS DOJ’S BIDEN PROBE AS HOUSE INVESTIGATION HEATS UP

A new book describes President Joe Biden’s cabinet meetings as «scripted» and «uncomfortable.»  (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Care Can’t Wait Action)

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«President Biden’s inner circle repeatedly told the American people that he was ‘sharp as ever,’ dismissing any commentary about his obvious mental decline as ‘gratuitous,’» he said. «They fed these false talking points to progressive allies and the media, who helped perpetuate that President Biden was fit to serve.»

Jean-Pierre, Zients, Bates and Sams did not reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment before publication.