IACHR grants precautionary measures in favor of Sofía Sahagún in Venezuela

September 12, 2025

Washington, DC—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 59/2025 on August 18, 2025, to grant precautionary measures in favor of Sofía María Sahagún Ortiz in Venezuela, in the belief that she faces a serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to her rights to life and personal integrity.

Sahagún has dual nationality and is a citizen of both Venezuela and Spain. She was allegedly arrested by State authorities at Caracas airport on October 23, 2024, and her whereabouts and cause of detention were unknown for months following her arrest. The beneficiary has allegedly been charged with terrorism, although her legal status is unknown. Venezuelan authorities have rejected the appointment of her chosen legal counsel and the legal remedies sought in her favor, and her lawyers have not been granted access to her case file.

Her family presumes that her arrest may be linked to the fact that she is related to another woman, with whom she shares the family name Sahagún, who has been persecuted for alleged ties to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Sahagún's family and representatives have allegedly not had any contact with her since December 2024, and she has reportedly also not been granted access to the consular assistance she has the right to receive. The State failed to provide information to the IACHR on this issue.

After assessing the legal and factual allegations, the IACHR considers that the beneficiary is defenseless with regard to the risks that she might be facing while in State custody, given that she has been incommunicado for eight months and that her access to an effective legal defense is currently restricted, despite various domestic remedies sought by her representatives. There are also no reports of whether Spanish authorities have been able to visit her and assess her current condition.

Consequently, in keeping with Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure, the IACHR asked the State of Venezuela to take the following action:

1. Adopt any measures necessary to protect Sahagún's rights to life and personal integrity
2. Take all measures necessary to ensure that the beneficiary's conditions of detention reflect the applicable international standards, particularly the following: enabling regular contact with her family, trusted legal counsel, and Spanish consular staff, since she is also a national of that country; enabling full access to her criminal case file; and reporting on her legal status, including the reasons why she has not been released pending trial
3. Come to an agreement with the beneficiary and her representatives concerning any measures that need to be taken
4. Report on any action taken to investigate the alleged events that gave rise to the adoption of these precautionary measures, in order to prevent such events from happening again in the future

The fact that these precautionary measures have been granted and their adoption by the State do not entail a prejudgment on a potential petition that may be filed before the inter-American system to allege violations of rights protected by the American Convention on Human Rights and other applicable instruments.

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 183/25

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