CARACAS, May 7 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s government on Thursday confirmed that a detainee whose 82-year-old mother had spent more than a year searching for him had died last July, after a court this week rejected a bid to release him, citing the crimes he allegedly committed.
Victor Quero died in July 2025, the government said in a statement nearly 10 months later, citing a death certificate that pointed to “acute respiratory failure resulting from pulmonary thromboembolism” – a blockage in the pulmonary arteries – after being imprisoned in the country’s infamous Rodeo I prison at the start of last year.
He was 50 years old.
Earlier this week, Moises Gutierrez, a lawyer with the NGO Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy, said a court rejected an amnesty request for Quero, saying that the crimes attributed to him did not meet the necessary legal requirements.
Venezuela’s government did not say why Quero was detained or answer requests for comment.
The case drew particular attention because Quero’s mother, Carmen Navas, has been active on social and news media calling for his release. She said prison officials repeatedly refused to provide her with information on his whereabouts.
Venezuelan opposition group Vente Venezuela said Quero’s death was the ninth to occur in state custody since July 2024.
“This is not a common death, this is a murder caused by the repressive bodies of Rodeo I, a torture center where so many cruel and inhumane acts are committed, and where dozens of Venezuelan and foreign prisoners remain political prisoners,” Vente said in a statement.
Alfredo Romero, the head of Foro Penal, an NGO that tracks Venezuelan prisoners, said officials at Rodeo I repeatedly told Quero’s mother they did not know where he was.
Early this year, after the U.S. attacked Caracas and captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Venezuela’s government passed an amnesty law intended to free hundreds of people rights groups consider political prisoners.
Venezuelan authorities have always denied holding political prisoners and said those detained committed legitimate crimes.
(Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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