Alfredo Díaz, 55, was arrested in November 2024 after questioning Maduro’s re-election. Prosecuted for “terrorism”, he awaited his trial in a place which would serve as a “torture center”. A former governor critical of Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela and prosecuted for “terrorism” and “incitement to hatred” died this Saturday (12/06) in prison.
The information was disclosed by representatives of human rights organizations and confirmed by the Ministry of Corrections, which attributed the death to a heart attack.
Alfredo Díaz, who governed New Sparta from 2017 to 2021, was arrested in November 2024 in the context of the crisis triggered by Maduro’s contested re-election. He had questioned the lack of transparency regarding the publication of the election results and, a few days before his arrest, he had denounced the electricity crisis in Nova Esparta, the result, according to Caracas, of attacks by the opposition.
A memo released by the Venezuelan Prison Administration said Díaz, 55, was “immediately” referred for medical care after exhibiting “symptoms consistent with a myocardial infarction,” and that he died minutes after being transferred to Caracas University Hospital.
“Torture center”
According to Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners, Díaz was only allowed one visit to his daughter in prison.
He was detained at El Helicoide, the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), in Caracas. Venezuelan opposition and human rights activists call the site a “torture center.”
According to lawyer Gonzalo Himiob, of the Criminal Forum, he was still awaiting trial. “We were appointed by his family as legal representatives, but the government imposed a public defender on him,” he said.
In a statement, the prison ministry said Díaz was being prosecuted “with the full guarantee of his rights” and with “respect for human rights.”
According to Romero, 17 political prisoners have died in Venezuelan state prisons since 2014 – among them, at least six were opponents killed since November 2024, arrested following post-reelection protests.
“Who takes responsibility for this and other deaths that have occurred? » asked Romero.
The Penal Forum says the country holds at least 887 political prisoners in prison. “Repression has essentially become a mechanism or strategy to intimidate the regime,” Romero said.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said Díaz’s death “adds to an alarming and painful chain of deaths of political prisoners detained in the context of post-election repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths – which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation and torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment – reveal a consistent pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a memo co-signed by Edmundo González Urrutia, who was nominated by the opposition as winner of the 2024 elections and who now lives in exile.
Protests against Maduro’s re-election resulted in the deaths of 28 people and the detention of around 2,400 others, most accused of “terrorism” – of whom around 2,000 have since been released.
ra (AFP, EFE)
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