Death of Carmen Navas: A Mother’s Grief

Carmen Navas, an 82-year-old mother from Venezuela, passed away on Sunday, just ten days after the government acknowledged the death of her son, political prisoner Víctor Hugo Quero Navas, who had been dead since July 2025.

Reports indicate that, just before her passing, Carmen attended a mass dedicated to her late son at a church in the La Candelaria parish of Caracas. The event saw her supported by family members and human rights advocates. Overcome with emotion, she gratefully acknowledged the warmth of those who offered their condolences.

During that mass, Navas expressed, “God has given me the strength to keep searching for my son until the end.”

The plight of the Quero Navas family has drawn widespread attention in Venezuela, revealing deeper issues of oppression linked to the country’s socialist regime. For 16 months, Carmen frantically sought information about her 50-year-old son’s disappearance, but state authorities were unresponsive.

Víctor Hugo Quero Navas had been unjustly detained in January 2025 by the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) of the Venezuelan regime, accused of “treason, conspiracy, and terrorism.” Throughout his time in custody, he was never formally charged or offered due process. The regime finally admitted to his death on May 7, claiming he had died in July 2025.

The Venezuelan Ministry of Prison Services stated that he succumbed to “acute respiratory failure due to pulmonary thromboembolism” after being admitted to a military hospital. His remains were reportedly laid to rest on July 30, 2025. During his detention at Rodeo 1 prison, Carmen sought answers from prison officials on twelve different occasions, but they didn’t disclose that her son was actually being held there. Some inmates later revealed that they had seen him and noted his declining health around July and August 2025, with reports indicating minimal food provision from the prison staff.

As of now, specific details surrounding his death are still unclear, pending an investigation by the government. Contradictions exist regarding the actual date of his death, as claims vary between July 24 and July 27, 2025. Quelo Navas is noted as the 27th political prisoner known to have died while in state custody since 2014.

Cardinal Baltazar Porras, the Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, lamented the passing of Carmen Navas, urging reflection on her story and similar experiences faced by countless families in Venezuela searching for their loved ones taken by the regime. “Today’s news leaves me speechless. It highlights a harsh reality that many endure,” he wrote. “Carmen Teresa Navas and Víctor Hugo, may God embrace you in eternal life.”

In a poignant tribute, opposition leader Maria Colina Machado honored Carmen Navas’s life as an example of dignity and perseverance in the face of tyranny. She spoke of Carmen’s relentless pursuit of the truth regarding her son’s fate, stating, “She never stopped demanding the truth. She never gave up. She never stopped fighting.” Machado emphasized that Carmen’s story resonates with many Venezuelan mothers who are similarly searching for loved ones lost to oppressive regimes.

In light of political changes, following the arrest of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, some political prisoners have begun to be released, yet as of early May, there were still 457 confirmed prisoners recorded by a local NGO. There’s a pledge from President Trump to secure the release of all remaining political prisoners in Venezuela.