Students protest in Venezuela after deaths of political prisoner and his mother

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A few dozen people demonstrated Monday in Venezuela’s capital in memory of a woman who died over the weekend, just days after learning that her son had died in state custody nine months ago.

The demonstrators, mostly college students, briefly blocked a highway in Caracas as they blamed Venezuela’s government for the deaths of Víctor Hugo Quero, whose detention was considered politically motivated, and his elderly mother, Carmen Navas. As the students chanted, they also carried a large banner with Navas’ photo.

“What it stirs up in Venezuelans, in the Venezuelan youth, is rage, man,” student leader Miguel Ángel Suárez said of the deaths.

Navas, 82, died 10 days after Venezuela’s prisons agency announced in a statement that Quero died in July after being hospitalized while in custody. The government withheld the information even as Navas demanded proof of life as she visited detention centers, courthouses and government agencies seeking the whereabouts of Quero, who had been detained since January 2025.

The government’s statement said Navas, a 51-year-old salesperson, died of “acute respiratory failure secondary to pulmonary thromboembolism” 10 days after he was taken to the hospital for a gastrointestinal issue. It explained that Navas’ relatives were not notified of his death because he failed to provide contact information.

The case immediately drew the outrage of human rights organizations, members of Venezuela's political opposition and relatives of other political prisoners.

“They didn’t die; they were killed!” demonstrators chanted Monday. “Justice for Carmen!”

The Venezuelan prisoners' rights group Foro Penal estimates that more than 400 people are currently detained in the country for political reasons.

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