Navy captain dies in custody after signs of torture
CARACAS, Venezuela — A Venezuelan navy captain accused by the government of plotting a rebellion has died in custody a week after his arrest, underlining President Nicolás Maduro’s increasingly ferocious repression campaign amid a spiraling economic crisis.
The captain, Rafael Acosta, is the first of more than 100 active and retired Venezuelan officers jailed by the government on treason charges to die in custody after allegations of torture.
A military judge told Acosta’s legal team Saturday that the officer had died in a military hospital the previous night, said his lawyer, Alonso Medina Roa. Acosta was detained June 21 and charged with treason and conspiring to rebel. He denied the charges.
Medina Roa said the captain had been detained in good health but was in a wheelchair when he was brought into a courthouse Friday. The lawyer said his client was struggling to speak or move, showed visible signs of beatings, and kept repeating the word “help” to his legal team.
He was taken to a hospital from the courthouse and died hours later, the lawyer said.
Venezuela’s information minister, Jorge Rodríguez, a close adviser to Maduro, confirmed Acosta’s death Saturday night and asked the country’s attorney general to investigate the “unfortunate event,” without providing details.
The head of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, condemned the captain’s death, adding in a message on Twitter that “the crimes of Nicolás Maduro won’t be left unpunished.”
Acosta was one of half a dozen former and active officers detained in recent days over allegations of plotting to overthrow Maduro.
The Associated Press reported that negotiations aimed at breaking Venezuela's political standoff between Maduro and the U.S.backed opposition leader Juan Guaido are to resume this week, probably on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
The location for the talks will be decided by the government of Norway, which is leading the mediation effort and hosted two previous rounds of exploratory talks in May.