Caracas, Venezuela – Alfredo Díaz, a former governor of Nueva Esparta state and prominent Venezuelan opposition figure, has died while in detention, his family confirmed. Díaz had been held for approximately one year.
Díaz’s death intensifies scrutiny of human rights conditions within Venezuela’s prisons and adds to a growing number of reported fatalities among political detainees following the July 28th elections. The circumstances surrounding his death are currently under inquiry, but his passing is likely to further polarize the country’s already fractured political landscape and draw international condemnation.
Opposition leaders have decried Díaz’s death as part of a pattern of repression. María Corina Machado and edmundo González Urrutia stated that his case “does not represent an isolated event,” adding that it is “an alarming and painful chain of deaths of political prisoners detained in the context of the post-electoral repression of July 28.” They extended their condolences to Díaz’s wife, Leynys, his children, family, and colleagues.
Leopoldo López, another opposition leader, expressed his grief on X, stating that Díaz’s death “deeply touches those of us who walk with him and share the fight for freedom.”
Díaz was a vocal critic of President nicolás Maduro’s government. Despite Maduro’s stated insistence that all detainees be treated with respect for human rights and due process, international reports of arbitrary detentions have been dismissed by the government as “interferencers” and “irresponsible, biased and deeply polarized.”
The death of Díaz raises further concerns about the treatment of political prisoners in Venezuela and the potential for escalating repression in the wake of the recent elections.
