The former governor of Nueva Esparta, Alfredo Díaz, an opponent of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and who had been imprisoned for about a year, died in prison, the politician’s family and human rights organizations reported. Although authorities informed family members that Díaz had suffered a fatal heart attack on Friday (5), NGOs are asking for the circumstances preceding his death to be investigated.
The politician had been detained since 2024 at El Helicoide, headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), in Caracas.
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The Venezuelan human rights NGO Provea spoke out through its X account to condemn the death of the former governor. For the organization, the cause of Alfredo Díaz’s death is the responsibility of the State.
“We do not know whether Mr. Díaz received medical care in a timely manner before his death. For a year, Alfredo Díaz remained incommunicado — without the right to visits from family or lawyers — in El Helicoide, a situation that has become recurrent for the majority of political prisoners and which constitutes a violation of the guarantees of the detainees’ right to defense and physical integrity, in addition to an act of cruelty that extends to their families,” the NGO wrote in X.
The information is that at least six political prisoners in State custody died between August 2024 and December 2025. “This alarming number reflects the precarious conditions of detention and reveals the State’s failure to fulfill its obligations under international standards for the protection of prisoners, including the United Nations Mandela Rules,” the organization said.
Last September, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the State did not act with due diligence in relation to the deaths of another five political prisoners in state custody, who did not receive adequate and timely medical care and were also subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
On social media, Maduro’s opponent, Maria Corina Machado, said she received the news with dismay. She stated that the circumstances surrounding the deaths of political prisoners – which would include the denial of medical care. Torture, isolation and degrading treatment – reveal a pattern of state repression. The security and penitentiary apparatus was used to persecute, punish and break those who think differently,” he wrote in a note.
Amnesty International Americas issued a statement saying that the serious human rights violations that Díaz has suffered since his arbitrary arrest in November 2024 must be investigated by independent courts. “Crimes against humanity must be investigated. We demand truth, justice and reparation for Alfredo and all victims in Venezuela”, said the organization’s director, Ana Piquer, in a statement.
