29.06.19: Captain Acosta

Human rights lawyer Tamara Suju announced through her Twitter account this afternoon the death of a navy officer named Rafael Acosta Arevalo, who had been in regime detention since June 21.

In a Twitter thread, Suju said that Acosta appeared in court yesterday in a wheelchair exhibiting “serious signs of torture”. Acosta “could not understand nor hear well” what was going on in the court, Suju said, and would only speak to ask his lawyer for help.

At the sight of Acosta, the judge ordered that he be taken to a hospital to receive attention. He died overnight at approximately 1:00 AM.

Suju said that Acosta was asked if he had been tortured by his captors, and that he nodded his head in affirmation in response.

Acosta was being held by the General Directorate for Military Counterintelligence (Dirección General de Contrainteligencia Militar, DGCIM). He was one of four officers arrested on June 21.

Trump, Putin Speak on Venezuela

Speaking at a press conference during the G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, US president Donald Trump said that his administration has at its disposal “five different strategies” for Venezuela.

In typical disorienting fashion, Trump also said that he had the power to change these strategies “any moment”.

Trump said:

We have a lot of strategies. I have five different strategies I could change any moment. But in the meantime we are helping them from the standpoint of getting them as much aid as we can,

Earlier in the week, Russian president Vladimir Putin also spoke in Venezuela, saying that Moscow would work with Guaido only if he were to win the presidency in an election. Putin book-ended the comment to a critique of Guaido. He said:

We have to let Venezuelans resolve their problems, and leaders [must] come to power democratically. But if a person arrives at a plaza and proclaims himself president, that’s a problem. Would that be acceptable in Japan, in the United States, or in Germany? What would happen? There would be chaos (…) we say [to Guaido]: run in and win elections, and if he wins, we would work with him.

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