Raúl Baduel, an army general who became a hero of Venezuela’s leftist government when he helped its strongman survive a coup but later turned into one of its most prominent political prisoners, died in jail late Tuesday, his family and the government said. He was 66.
The death of Gen. Baduel, a confidant of the socialist leader Hugo Chávez before becoming a dissident, was announced in a Twitter post by Venezuela’s attorney general, who said Gen. Baduel had suffered a cardiac failure triggered by Covid-19. He died awaiting trial for treason in what is commonly called “The Tomb,” an underground Caracas detention center run by the country’s military intelligence.
Gen. Baduel’s family denied that he had contracted the virus and blamed the government for his death. “My soul is broken,” said his daughter, Andreina Baduel, who had spent the past decade advocating her father’s freedom. “The regime killed my beloved and brave papa.”
