U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported former Venezuelan National Guard commander Rafael José Quero Silva to Venezuela on Aug. 19, removing a man accused by Venezuelan plaintiffs of overseeing the torture of anti-government demonstrators during the early years of Nicolás Maduro's rule.
ICE said Quero Silva, described by the agency as an undocumented immigrant with a criminal history and a known human rights violator, was flown to Venezuela after an immigration judge with the Department of Justice issued a final removal order. The operation was carried out by ICE Miami, Homeland Security Investigations Miami, and the agency's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center.
Quero Silva arrived at Venezuela's Barcelona airport, according to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Miami.
The deportation ends an immigration case that had kept the former officer in federal custody at the Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County. Quero Silva appealed an earlier immigration ruling that denied him relief from removal, but the process ultimately ended with his expulsion from the United States.
He was arrested by ICE in Miramar in 2025 after authorities determined that he had remained in the country beyond the terms of his admission. ICE records show he entered the United States through Miami International Airport in 2016 and did not leave as required.
ÚLTIMA HORA | ICE deporta a Venezuela a excomandante de la GNB, Rafael José Quero Silva, señalado por torturas a manifestantes https://t.co/0Dl5T926A3 pic.twitter.com/5CDPVFsKKR
— AlbertoRodNews (@AlbertoRodNews) August 26, 2026
Before moving to South Florida, Quero Silva served as a colonel in Venezuela's National Guard and commanded Detachment 47 in Barquisimeto, Lara state. U.S. immigration authorities concluded that he had participated in human rights violations in Venezuela, including abuses against political dissidents and demonstrators opposed to Maduro's government.
According to ICE, Quero Silva directly supervised the torture of at least 74 peaceful protesters in 2013. While held at Detachment 47, detainees were allegedly subjected to electric shocks, beatings with sticks and frozen water bottles, rape threats and other physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
Those allegations were also at the center of a civil lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida by five Venezuelan men who say they were detained and tortured by National Guard officers under Quero Silva's command. The suit, filed under the U.S. Torture Victim Protection Act, seeks damages and accuses the former commander of direct and command responsibility for the alleged abuses.
One plaintiff says he was shot in the abdomen. Another says he was struck at close range with pellets. The lawsuit alleges that victims were subjected to threats, humiliation, beatings and sexual abuse while in custody. One of the plaintiffs said the trauma drove him at one point to contemplate suicide.
The civil complaint remains separate from the immigration proceedings and can continue even though Quero Silva is no longer in the United States. The plaintiffs have argued that deporting him to Venezuela could complicate their efforts to obtain accountability, particularly because the alleged abuses occurred under the government he once served.
Quero Silva's presence in South Florida first drew attention after members of the Venezuelan community recognized him as an extra playing a police officer in the Telemundo telenovela Mi Familia Perfecta. That sighting led activists and alleged victims to alert U.S. authorities to his identity and past role in Venezuela's security forces.
In a February report, El País documented the five plaintiffs' allegations and reported that Quero Silva had been detained by ICE after overstaying his visa.
