CARACAS, Venezuela: Ten days after the state confirmed to Carmen Navas that her son had died in state custody, the 82-year-old passed away, the NGO that handled her son's case reported.

Navas had spent nearly a year searching for her detained son ​in Venezuela.

Navas became well known in Venezuela after publicly asking for information about her 50-year-old son, Victor Quero. Ten days ago, authorities finally said that he had died from breathing problems in the Rodeo I prison last July.

Alfredo Romero, head of Foro Penal, said prison officials had often told Navas they did not know where her son was.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado expressed sadness over Navas' death on social media and praised her courage in standing up to what she called a "terror system" while searching for her son.

Machado wrote that it was not just a mother who died, but a brave woman who turned her pain into strength and spoke out for justice. She added that Navas had come to represent thousands of mothers looking for their missing or jailed children.

Earlier this year, after the U.S. attacked Caracas and captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, the Venezuelan government passed a law to release many people that rights groups say are political prisoners.

However, Venezuelan authorities have always denied having political prisoners, saying those detained were jailed for real crimes.