66 years old
José Alberto “Mazuco” Sánchez Montiel is a 66-year-old former member of the National Assembly and former police commissioner of Zulia State who was arbitrarily detained for a second time on September 30, 2024, when men dressed in black—allegedly belonging to the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN)—intercepted him in Maracaibo without presenting an arrest warrant. According to the testimony of his assistant, Rossaly Nava, he remained in a state of enforced disappearance for approximately a month, during which his relatives had no knowledge of his whereabouts or health status. He was subsequently held at the Rodeo I Penitentiary Center, where he remained deprived of liberty despite suffering from cancer, hypertension, severe migraines, and the aftereffects of previous abdominal surgery—conditions that, according to his family, worsened due to a lack of adequate medical care during his imprisonment. Human rights organizations denounced that his new arrest lacked legal grounds and was part of a pattern of persecution against opposition leaders. In July 2026, he was released after nearly two years of arbitrary detention, although his relatives noted that he regained his freedom with a considerably deteriorated state of health and continue to demand justice for the human rights violations suffered during his detention.