Alfredo Díaz: Government of Venezuela recognizes the death of the opponent in El Helicoide prison “due to a heart attack”

The ministry for Penitentiary Service reported on Sunday the death of the 56-year-old opponent, noted by “terrorism” e “incitement to hate”.

“He was being processed, with full guarantee of his rights, in accordance with the legal system and respect for human rights and his legal defense.”, he assured in a statement.

“On Saturday, December 6, 2025, at approximately 6:33 a.m., citizen Alfredo Javier Díaz manifested symptoms compatible with a myocardial infarction. (…) was transferred to University Clinical Hospital; where he entered and when trying to stabilize him, unfortunately he died minutes later“added the text.

Díaz, who was governor of the state New Sparta between 2017 and 2021, he is the sixth member of the opposition to die in prison since November 2024.

“The death of the Venezuelan political prisoner Alfredo Díaz, who was arbitrarily detained in the Maduro torture center, The Helicoidis another reminder of the vile nature of Maduro’s criminal regime“, indicated the US State Department in the X account of the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Washington’s reaction comes as a US flotilla, which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, carries out anti-drug operations in the Caribbean.

Caracas affirms that the maneuvers undertaken by the Trump administration seek to overthrow Maduro.

“Pattern of repression”

The opposition leader Maria Corina Machadoin hiding for more than a year and recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said that Díaz’s death “It adds to an alarming and painful chain of deaths of political prisoners detained in the context of the post-electoral repression of July 28”.

“The circumstances of these deaths – which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation and torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment – reveal a sustained pattern of state repression.”, indicated Machado, emphasized in a joint statement with González Urrutia.

Díaz was detained at the headquarters of the national intelligence service (Sebin), a place described as a “torture center” by the Venezuelan opposition and human rights activists.

The lawyer Gonzalo Himiob de la ONG Criminal Forumdeclared to AFP that Díaz “He had been accused, but his trial was paralyzed”. “We were appointed by his family as his legal representatives, but the government imposed a public defender on him.”.

MORE INFORMATION: The US denounces the “vile nature of the regime” of Maduro after the death of a former governor imprisoned in Venezuela

Díaz “He had been imprisoned and isolated for a year, they only allowed one visit from his daughter“, he indicated Alfredo Romerodirector of the NGO Foro Penal dedicated to defending those detained for political reasons.

Since 2014, 17 political prisoners have died in the custody of the Venezuelan State, Romero told AFP. “Repression has basically become a mechanism or strategy of the regime to intimidate”he added.

According to the most recent count by Foro Penal, in Venezuela There are at least 887 political prisoners.