CARACAS, May 18, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The mother of Venezuelan political prisoner Victor Hugo Quero Navas died Sunday at age 81, just days after confirming the death of her son in state custody, her relatives told AFP.

Carmen Navas had searched tirelessly for her son since his January 2025 arrest, demanding answers from Venezuelan authorities who stonewalled her.

Human rights NGOs described his detention as a "forced disappearance."

Earlier this month, on May 7, prison officials finally revealed that her son had died on July 24.

Navas visited her 51-year-old son's grave and demanded his remains be exhumed for identification. After doing so, she held a small funeral in Caracas.

"May God give me strength," Navas whispered through sobs at a religious ceremony held Friday, bidding farewell to her son.

That was her last public appearance.

Her close friend Edilda Zambrano recounted her difficult crusade as she demanded the truth directly from prisons and Venezuela's institutions.

She was "a wonderful woman...a woman of courage, persistent at all times," Zambrano said.

Her loved ones said she put off dealing with her own health problems to focus on finding Quero.

Her son's death was revealed during an amnesty initiative launched by interim president Delcy Rodriguez in February, following the capture of leftist leader Nicolas Maduro by the United States in January.