Arrested in January 2025, Victor Hugo Quero Navas died in custody on July 15 and was buried on the 30th, even though he was missing and his mother Carmen Navas had been looking for him for months.
The body of political prisoner Victor Hugo Quero Navas, 51, whose death the Venezuelan authorities recognized on Thursday almost a year after his death, will be exhumed for identification, announced the Public Ministry’s office. This is the first case in which the authorities recognize the death of a person reported missing several months after their arrest and death.
Arrested in January 2025, he died in custody on July 15 and was buried on the 30th, even though he was missing and his mother Carmen Navas had been looking for him for months. She was accompanied to her grave on Thursday by the authorities and requested a DNA test to confirm the identity of the body, according to an AFP journalist on site.
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“As part of the investigation, the exhumation of the citizen’s corpse was ordered and must be carried out without delay, with a forensic team.”according to a press release released by the prosecution Thursday evening. Alfredo Romero, of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners, says that 19 of them have died in custody since 2014.
“Secondary acute respiratory failure”
Since the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro by the American army on January 3, the Venezuelan government has been under pressure on this issue. Interim President Delcy Rodriguez promulgated an amnesty law that allowed the release of hundreds of political prisoners, but around 500 are still behind bars, according to NGOs.
«After examination of the file, he established» that M. Quero Navas, 51 years old, “was arrested on January 3, 2025” et “transferred on July 15, 2025 to the military hospital (…) After ten days of medical treatment, he died of secondary acute respiratory failure.”according to a press release from the prison authorities earlier today. “During his detention, the citizen did not provide information relating to his parentage and no member of his family came forward to request to visit him”they said to justify not having warned anyone.
Like hundreds of political prisoners, Mr. Quero Navas, buried on July 30, 2025, did not belong to any political party, was notably accused of “terrorism”.
