The Daily Journal — Venezuela’s Public Prosecutor’s Office reported on Tuesday that forensic and genetic investigations show natural causes and no signs of violence in the death of Víctor Hugo Quero Navas, a political prisoner whose disappearance relatives and human rights groups had denounced.
The Prosecutor’s Office said investigators exhumed the body and conducted multiple analyses. The results indicate pulmonary thromboembolism as the cause of death.
Officials stated: “The legal autopsy, along with histological, toxicological, and complementary expert examinations, determined pulmonary thromboembolism as the cause of death. The body showed no traumatic injuries.”
A national prosecutor specializing in human rights led the investigation. Specialists from the National Service of Forensic Medicine and Sciences, the Criminal Investigation Support Directorate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ombudsman’s Office, and family members with their legal representatives participated in the process.
The Prosecutor’s Office reported that forensic studies place the time of death between 10 months and one year ago, matching the date reported by prison authorities.
The outcome of an enforced disappearance case
The case drew national and international attention after relatives and non-governmental organizations reported the enforced disappearance of the detainee.
Authorities said Quero Navas entered the El Rodeo I prison on January 3, 2025, after detention on charges of “treason,” “conspiracy,” and “terrorism.”
Officials reported that they transferred him to the Dr. Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital in Caracas in July 2025 due to health complications. He died on July 24 of that year from acute respiratory failure linked to pulmonary thromboembolism.
According to the official account, no relatives or representatives claimed the body, so state authorities carried out the burial procedures on July 30, 2025, in accordance with existing legal protocols.
The case gained public attention due to efforts led by his mother, Carmen Teresa Navas, who visited multiple institutions and detention centers searching for information about her son. Public officials repeatedly denied holding him.
The complaints triggered a criminal investigation by the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC) in March 2026. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) also issued precautionary measures related to the case.
After a 16-month search that ended with the exhumation and identification of her son’s body, Carmen Navas, aged 82, died on Sunday, May 17.
