31 Former Presidents of the IDEA Group Demand the Removal from Power of Those Responsible for Crimes Against Humanity in Venezuela
(Caracas, 11.05.26) Thirty-one former Heads of State and Government belonging to the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA Group) issued a statement condemning the enforced disappearances, torture, and deaths of political prisoners under Venezuelan state custody, warning that these acts constitute a “dangerous rupture with the universal laws of humanity.”
The statement followed revelations surrounding the case of Víctor Hugo Quero Navas, a political prisoner whose death was concealed for months by Venezuelan authorities and whose disappearance had been persistently denounced by his mother, Carmen Teresa Navas. The case has sparked national and international outrage and renewed accusations of systematic human rights violations in Venezuela.
In their declaration, the former leaders stated that they received “with shock” the news regarding the enforced disappearance and subsequent concealment of Quero Navas’ death, whose whereabouts only became known after sustained public appeals by his mother through media outlets and human rights organizations.
The IDEA Group recalled that at least 28 political prisoners have died while in Venezuelan state custody since the beginning of Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Among the cases mentioned were those of councilman Fernando Albán, former minister Nelson Martínez, Navy Captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo, and General Raúl Isaías Baduel, all widely denounced by international organizations and human rights NGOs.
The former Heads of State further noted that enforced disappearances in Venezuela exceeded 750 victims between 2018 and 2020, and recalled that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has defined this practice as a multiple, continuous, and grave violation of human rights, which may include unlawful deprivation of liberty, torture, and extrajudicial executions.
Source: Vente Venezuela
Author: Vente Venezuela