Venezuela confirms death of political prisoner Víctor Hugo Quero, ten months after he died
Key takeaways
- According to the official statement, Quero Navas was detained on 3 January 2025 and held at the Rodeo I Judicial Internment Center near Caracas.
- Prison authorities justified the lack of notification by claiming the detainee did not provide information on family ties and no relative came forward to request a formal visit.
- Carmen Navas spent months traveling between prisons, courts and government agencies demanding proof her son was alive.
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Venezuela's Ministry for Prison Services confirmed on Thursday the death of political prisoner V ctor Hugo Quero Navas, a 51-year-old merchant, nearly ten months after he died in state custody and following more than a year of forced disappearance complaints filed by his family.
According to the official statement, Quero Navas was detained on 3 January 2025 and held at the Rodeo I Judicial Internment Center near Caracas. On 15 July that year he was transferred to the Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital after presenting upper gastrointestinal bleeding and acute fever. The ministry said he died on 24 July at 11:25 p.m. of acute respiratory failure caused by pulmonary thromboembolism. He was buried on 30 July at the Jard n La Puerta Memorial Park. The date inscribed on the grave, however, reads 27 July, as observed by an AFP reporter at the cemetery.
Prison authorities justified the lack of notification by claiming the detainee did not provide information on family ties and no relative came forward to request a formal visit. The rights group Justicia, Encuentro y Perd n dismissed that account, noting that his mother, 82-year-old Carmen Teresa Navas, had submitted multiple petitions to the prosecutor's office and the Ombudsman's Office.