The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported to Venezuela the former colonel of the Bolivarian National Guard Rafael José Quero Silva, identified for his involvement in the detention and torture of anti-government protesters during the regime of Nicolás Maduro, according to an official statement released this Wednesday from Miami.
The removal was carried out on August 18 in compliance with an order issued by an immigration judge from the Department of Justice, following a process that lasted more than a year since the arrest of Quero Silva.
ICE detained the former soldier on February 27, 2025, in Miramar, Florida, where he had been living undocumented since entering the country in June 2016 through Miami International Airport without adhering to the terms of his admission.
Before arriving in the United States, Quero Silva commanded the 47th Detachment of the Bolivarian National Guard in Barquisimeto, Lara state. According to ICE, in 2013 he directly supervised the torture of at least 74 peaceful protesters under his custody.
The documented methods include electrical shocks, beatings with batons and frozen water bottles, threats of sexual violence, and other physical and psychological abuses against detained opponents.
In November 2025, an immigration judge concluded that Quero Silva had participated in human rights violations and ordered his deportation.
A month later, five victims filed a federal civil lawsuit in Florida against the former colonel under the Torture Victim Protection Act, in what the newspaper The New York Times described as the first case of a Venezuelan military member being tried in the United States for abuses linked to Chavismo in over a decade.
The case was jointly investigated by ICE Miami, HSI Miami, and the FBI, along with the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center of ICE.
"The ICE agents continue to deport human rights violators to their countries of origin," stated Matthew Elliston, director of the ERO Miami Field Office.
"We are committed to public safety and national security, and to ensuring that the United States does not become a haven for those involved in persecution, torture, or other serious human rights abuses," he warned.
On his part, Jose R. Figueroa, the special agent in charge of HSI Miami, stated that the case "reflects our unwavering commitment to protecting the integrity of the immigration system and ensuring that those who participated in persecution or torture cannot evade justice."
However, the deportation raised alarm among human rights organizations. The NGO FUNPAZ warned this Wednesday that the return of Quero Silva to Venezuela —where the chavista regime remains in power under the acting president Delcy Rodríguez, following Maduro's capture in January— exposes victims and witnesses to possible reprisals and opens the door to impunity.
FUNPAZ clarified, however, that the federal civil lawsuit filed in Florida remains open and that the deportation does not formally close that judicial process.
Since 2003, ICE has arrested over 520 individuals for violations related to human rights and has physically deported 1,178 known or suspected human rights violators from U.S. territory.
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