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US Senator Rick Scott held the Venezuelan regime responsible this Monday for the death of Carmen Navas, 83 years old, mother of political prisoner Víctor Hugo Quero, and demanded that Delcy Rodríguez face justice for what he described as a crime against humanity.
In a message published on X, Scott was emphatic: "The Venezuelan regime KILLED Carmen Navas through the torture, cruelty, and evil inflicted upon her and her son, Víctor Hugo Quero."
The senator described Carmen Navas as "the face of the brutality of the Venezuelan dictatorship" and detailed the chain of cruelty she endured: "They kidnapped her son, concealed his death for months, and forced a mother to search in prison after prison while they already knew he was dead."
Scott closed his message with a direct warning: "Delcy Rodríguez and every thug involved in this crime against humanity WILL be brought to justice. We will not rest until they face the justice they deserve, and ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE FREED."
Carmen Navas passed away this Sunday after nearly 16 months searching Venezuelan prisons for her son, without the authorities informing her that Quero had been dead for months.
Víctor Hugo Quero was detained on January 1, 2025, in the vicinity of Plaza Venezuela in Caracas, accused of terrorism, conspiracy, and treason — according to reports, he was arrested for "looking foreign."
He died in custody on July 24, 2025, but his body was secretly buried six days later without his family's knowledge.
In October 2025, the Ombudsman and the Venezuelan Prosecutor's Office still stated that Quero was still in detention, even though he had been dead for three months.
The Venezuelan government did not publicly acknowledge his death until May 7, 2026, nine months after it occurred.
Carmen Navas was only able to say goodbye to her son days before she passed away, when the regime finally acknowledged the crime: she witnessed the exhumation of the body and attended a memorial mass in Caracas.
His last public words summarized the horror he experienced: «I didn't want to speak to the press; they killed my son; they never let me see him. No one can surpass a mother's pain».
Vente Venezuela, the party of María Corina Machado, demanded justice for her death: «Her death is the cry of thousands of mothers separated by persecution. May her courage drive us until we see Venezuela free from torture and oppression».
This is not the first time Scott has directly targeted Rodríguez in this case. On May 8, following the announcement of Quero's death, he had already called for the United States to reinstate sanctions against Rodríguez — who was removed from the OFAC sanctions list on April 1, 2026 — and he described her as the “head of a cartel.”
The case fits a documented pattern: at least 27 politically motivated detainees have died in the custody of the Venezuelan state since 2014, and at least eight political prisoners have died in Venezuelan prisons since July 2024.
Despite the Amnesty Law enacted by Rodríguez on February 19, 2026, the Foro Penal verified only 768 actual releases compared to the 8,616 that the government declared, and on April 25, Rodríguez announced the end of the amnesty with hundreds of political prisoners still incarcerated.
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