The Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal denounced this Saturday the death in prison and police custody of the former opposition governor of the island state of Nueva Esparta. Alfredo DiazWHO He had been imprisoned and “isolated” for more than a year, as the president of the institution, Alfredo Romero, said.
“Another political prisoner dies in Venezuelan prisons. He had been imprisoned for a year, isolated. They only allowed one visit from their daughter. He was 55 years old. It’s scandalous! The state is responsible for the health of the person in its custody,” Romero posted on his X account.
On the same social network, the vice-president of Foro Penal, Gonzalo Himiob, confirmed that “the family of Alfredo Díaz was informed of his death while he was in detention.” “According to the Minnesota Protocol (2016), it is a “potentially illegal death” which must be the subject of an objective and impartial investigation”, Himiob underlined in X.
The opposition party Voluntad Popular (VP) assured that Díaz died “a few hours ago” at the Caracas headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), known as El Helicoide, “victim of a sudden heart attack”.
“This is not an isolated event. It is the direct consequence of a system that persecutes, imprisons and destroys lives to stay in power. Alfredo Díaz died without freedom, without justice and without minimum guarantees, in a prison where the regime decides who lives and who dies,” VP protested.
Díaz’s wife, Leynys Malavé, demanded a response from the state on her Instagram account: “What happened to my husband, did they kill him?”he pointed out. For his part, the opponent and leader of the VP, Leopoldo López, assured that Díaz “had been asking for medical care for months and that it had been refused.” “His departure deeply affects those of us who walk with him and share the fight for freedom,” López said on his X account.
The former governor – an activist for the opposition Democratic Action party and also a former councilor and former mayor – was arrested in November 2024, in a context of crisis after the presidential elections of July of the same year, during which the largest opposition coalition denounced it as fraudulent The result allowed the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro.
Díaz questioned the lack of publication of disaggregated presidential election results and denounced it days before his arrestthe electricity crisis that occurred in November Nueva Esparta, which the Government attributes to attacks by the opposition.