Raúl Baduel, the general who helped Hugo Chávez return to power and ended up as a political prisoner, dies of COVID-19

The general Raul Baduel, considered one of the most emblematic political prisoners in Venezuela for having been a former Minister of Defense of Hugo Chavez, died in custody of COVID-19the attorney general reported on Tuesday.

“We regret the death of Raúl Isaías Baduel from a cardiorespiratory arrest caused by covid-19,” prosecutor Tarek Saab wrote on Twitter.

“While the corresponding medical care was applied and received the first dose of the vaccine,” he added.

Baduel, who died at the age of 66, helped reinstate Chávez after the April 2002 coup that briefly removed him from power, but later became his adversary.

The former minister served a sentence of almost eight years on corruption charges and after being released in 2015, he was again incarcerated on charges of conspiracy against current President Nicolás Maduro.

On September 29, the general’s daughter, Andreina Baduel, denounced that her father had been transferred from La Tumba prison to the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) known as El Helicoide, according to the newspaper “El Nacional”.

The Venezuelan newspaper also points out that the case of the former minister is exposed in the reports of the International Independent Human Rights Mission of the United Nations for Venezuela. As well as High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, who have reviewed the torture that Baduel suffered during the years deprived of liberty.