Former Venezuelan governor Alfredo Diaz died in the cell where he had been held for a year.

Diaz, 56, is the latest politician to join the growing list of Chavista dissidents who have died in a Venezuelan prison country, reported the Venezuelan Penal Forum.

According to the human rights organization, the politician—who was governor of the island state of Nueva Esparta between 2017 and 2021 and previously mayor of one of its municipalities—died this Saturday of a heart attack in a cell at El Helicoide, the feared headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) in Caracas, where he “had been imprisoned and isolated for a year.”

The news was confirmed by both Venezuelan authorities and Diaz's family and his political party, the social-democratic Democratic Action (AD).

“Now they are returning you to your beloved island in a coffin,” his wife, Leynys Malave, wrote on Instagram.

What is known

Diaz was one of the more than 2,000 Venezuelans detained after the repression that took place in the country following the disputed presidential elections of July 28, 2024.

The politician, who questioned the official results that gave Nicolas Maduro the victory, was arrested in November 2024 in the city of Ospino, about 380 kilometers southwest of Caracas, accused of “incitement to hatred” and “terrorism.” by the on-duty emergency physician and paramedic of that unit, who provided him with primary medical care,” reads the statement published on Instagram.

Subsequently, the politician was transferred to the University Hospital of Caracas, near El Helicoide, where he died, the ministry explained.

This thesis is supported for justice.

“Public Ministry prosecutors were present at the autopsy of the deceased and it was confirmed that he died of a heart attack,” Venezuelan judicial sources told BBC Mundo.

However, his daughter, Alejandra Maria Diaz, questioned the official version and, in statements to the US news network CNN, affirmed that her father was not guaranteed adequate medical care during his imprisonment.

The Venezuelan Constitution, in its article 272, establishes that “the State shall guarantee a penitentiary system that ensures the rehabilitation of the inmate and respect for their human rights. rights, in accordance with the legal system and respect for human rights and their legal defense. held him captive in a facility widely denounced by international organizations as a systematic center of torture. ceasing to use the facility as a prison. cases: The former governor is not the first opposition member and/or dissident of Chavismo to lose his life behind bars in Venezuela. Foro Penal has documented another 17 cases since 2014. Among the most notorious examples is that of retired General Raul Isaias Baduel, who died in October 2021 in El Helicoide prison from “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with COVID-19 complications,” according to authorities. His family, for their part, denounced that the officer, who served as commander-in-chief of the army and was a close friend of the late Hugo Chavez,He was denied adequate medical attention to treat his ailments.

Years earlier, the former president of Petroleos de Venezuela and former Minister of Petroleum, Nelson Martinez, also died in custody in the dungeons of military intelligence,while awaiting trial for alleged acts of corruption.

At the time, one of the former official's sons, Charles Martinez, publicly denounced that his father received delayed treatment.

Another emblematic case was that of former opposition councilman Fernando Alban, who in October 2018 died in the custody of SEBIN (Bolivarian National Intelligence Service) days after being detained at Maiquetia International Airport.

Initially, the authorities claimed that the politician had jumped from the tenth floor of the intelligence headquarters; However, over time, the version of events presented by his family and human rights organizations was proven: he was tortured to death.