CARACAS: The father of a political prisoner who died while in Venezuelan police custody called Monday for an investigation into the circumstances of his son’s death.Former municipal councilor Jose Manuel Garcia died while being held in custody by municipal police in the city of Anaco, some 250 miles (400 kilometers) east of Caracas.His body was discovered Sunday.Around 20 political prisoners have died in custody in Venezuela since 2014, according to the human rights group Foro Penal.“This can’t be allowed to continue,” the victim’s father of the same name, Jose Manuel Garcia, told AFP.“We’re seeing in Venezuela repeated cases of people dying in the custody of the very police themselves, which are now coming to light publicly, and we’re realizing that it’s becoming almost a routine practice,” he said.“I ask, just as I told officials, that these investigations get to the truth,” he added.Former prosecutor Zair Mundaray, currently in exile, described Garcia’s detention as “clearly political,” noting that he “had denounced acts of corruption within the mayor’s office.”Loved ones buried the former councilor in the northern city of Barcelona on Monday afternoon.Despite the adoption of an amnesty for political prisoners in February, a month after former president Nicolas Maduro’s ouster by the United States, around 500 remain behind bars, according to NGOs.