61 years old
Nélida Sánchez, a 61-year-old educator, human rights defender, and National Training Coordinator for the organization Súmate, was arbitrarily detained on August 26, 2024, by SEBIN officials in Los Teques, Miranda state. According to the testimony of her daughter, Daneli Gabriela Hernández Sánchez, the arrest was preceded by an operation in which a relative was detained and forced to falsely inform Nélida that they were hospitalized, luring her to the Victorino Santaella Hospital, where she was arrested alongside her mother by at least eight agents. She remained in enforced disappearance for over 72 hours at the SEBIN headquarters in Los Teques before being transferred to El Helicoide on August 28, 2024, where she faced charges of criminal association, incitement to hatred, treason, terrorism, and conspiracy. Her daughter also denounced that during her imprisonment, SEBIN officials threatened Nélida with reprisals against her, even claiming to know her residence in Argentina. National and international organizations pointed out that Sánchez’s detention was tied to her work training thousands of electoral witnesses for the 2024 presidential elections and denounced severe due process violations, including short-term enforced disappearance and the criminalization of political rights defense. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures in her favor in September 2024 due to the grave risk to her rights, and in February 2026 she was released after approximately 18 months of detention, although her criminal proceedings remained open.