Carmen Navas, an 82-year-old mother who had waged a public search for her detained son for nearly a year, died days after the government confirmed the young man had died while in state custody, the non-governmental organisation that handled the case reported.
Navas had become a visible presence in Venezuela as she sought information about her 50-year-old son, Victor Quero. Authorities disclosed 10 days before her death that Quero had died of respiratory failure in Rodeo I prison last July. The prison was described in reports as Rodeo I prison.
Foro Penal, the NGO managing the case, said its head Alfredo Romero had relayed that prison officials had repeatedly told Navas they did not know where her son was. That lack of information had been central to her public appeals.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado publicly mourned Navas and lauded her persistence. Machado wrote on social media that Navas had confronted what she called a 'terror apparatus' while seeking answers. 'Not just a mother died; a woman who turned pain into courage and despair into denunciation was extinguished,' Machado wrote, adding that Navas' voice had become that of thousands of mothers seeking disappeared or imprisoned children.
The case unfolded against a political backdrop described in recent reporting. 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 maintained that they do not hold political prisoners, asserting instead that those detained have committed legitimate crimes.
The death of Navas so soon after official confirmation of her son's death has been noted by the NGO and by political figures, with public statements highlighting both the human cost and challenges families face when seeking information about detained relatives.
Details available through the NGO and public statements by opposition figures make clear the core facts of the case: Navas' age and prolonged search for her son; the government's confirmation that Quero died of respiratory failure in state custody at Rodeo I prison last July; Foro Penal's account that prison officials told Navas they did not know his whereabouts; and reactions from political leaders who framed Navas' efforts as representative of many families.