CARACAS, Venezuela: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Venezuelan authorities Monday to quickly launch an independent investigation into the death of a navy captain who died in custody after being arrested on suspicion of plotting to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.
Guterres is “deeply concerned” at reports of Capt. Rafael Acosta’s death, and he urged a prompt, independent investigation, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, adding that Guterres wants the government to bring anyone responsible for his death to justice.
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor announced that two officers attached to a military intelligence agency had been arrested on homicide charges, though he made no reference to allegations of torture.
Acosta died Saturday hours after his attorney Alonso Medina Roa says his bruised and bloody client was brought to court in a wheelchair, unable to stand from intense pain and struggling to speak, covered with cuts and with bloody fingernails and black eyes. He died a short time later after a judge ordered him transferred to a military hospital.
The government says that Acosta and five other members of the armed forces or judicial police planned to launch an operation on June 23 to kill Maduro and other top officials, including first lady Cilia Flores and socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello.
A manhunt is underway for eight other men suspected in the plot, officials say. Security forces arrested Acosta on June 21 on the outskirts of Caracas, Medina Roa said, adding that his client was healthy at the time.
Acosta’s wife, Waleska de Acosta, has denied he planned to kill the president, while acknowledging that her husband opposed Maduro. She and her husband have two children aged 4 and 12, de Acosta said.
The death has drawn condemnation from the United States and several other nations as well as opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who renewed calls on the military to reject Maduro and join his movement to oust the socialist president.
Acosta’s death follows a recent visit to Venezuela by Michelle Bachelet, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. Bachelet concluded her three-day trip calling on the government to free all those detained for “exercising their civil and political rights in a peaceful manner.”
Bachelet expanded on Guterres’ comments in her own statement Monday, saying she was “shocked” by allegations of torture, which may have been the cause of Acosta’s death.
“I remind the Venezuelan authorities that they are responsible for the life, and the physical and psychological integrity of all people deprived of their liberty,” Bachelet said. “Structural measures should also be urgently adopted to prevent the recurrence of torture and other ill-treatment of people held in custody by the State.”
Bachelet urged authorities to let attorneys and relatives visit six others arrested in the case to ensure they are treated with “humanity and dignity” and are “protected from torture and other forms of ill-treatment.”
She said two members of the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence, the agency that had Acosta in custody, have been charged on suspicion of first-degree murder. But she “regretted” that torture allegations didn’t appear to be included in the charges.
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, has said that Maduro ordered an exhaustive probe into the death.
Saab later identified the two men arrested on homicide charges as Sgt. Estiben José Zárate and Lt. Antonio Ascanio, both members of the Bolivarian National Guard attached to the intelligence agency. The prosecutor said a preliminary investigation linked the men to the “regrettable” act.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza said Venezuela is in talks with Germany to restore diplomatic relations nearly four months after Maduro declared German Ambassador Daniel Kieser a “persona non grata” for backing Guaidó and ejected him from the country.
Germany is among some 50 nations that back Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Kieser was thrown out after meeting with Guaidó at the airport near Caracas in March with other foreign diplomats to prevent his arrest for leaving the country against a court order.
The German Embassy in Caracas did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Death of Venezuelan navy captain draws eye of UN watchdog
Death of Venezuelan navy captain draws eye of UN watchdog
- Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, has said that Maduro ordered an exhaustive probe into the death
Trump administration steps up efforts to scrutinize foreign funding of universities
- US colleges and universities disclosed 8,300 transactions totaling $5.2 billion in 2025 — which includes funding from governments as well as private companies and individuals
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is stepping up work to uncover what it sees as malign foreign influence at US colleges and universities, officials said on Monday as they announced that the State Department would assist the Department of Education in that effort. President Donald Trump has threatened to cut federal funding to universities over issues such as pro-Palestinian protests against US ally Israel’s war in Gaza, transgender policies, climate initiatives and diversity, equity and inclusion programs, raising free speech and academic freedom concerns. Trump in April 2025 issued an executive order calling for enforcement of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which requires colleges that receive federal funding to report gifts or contracts worth more than $250,000 from any foreign source, and the Department of Education in December launched a new portal for universities to report that funding.
Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers said the State Department’s new role would “ensure an invigorated compliance assurance effort by the federal government.”
“The Department of State will be applying our national security expertise and our expertise countering foreign malign influence to bolster oversight efforts by the Department of Education,” Rogers told reporters in a briefing at the State Department.
Officials declined to spell out specific examples of how foreign funding had unduly influenced higher education institutions, and said they were primarily seeking to boost compliance by the universities and improve transparency. The US Senate subcommittee on investigations in 2019 issued a report documenting China’s impact on the US education system, sparking renewed enforcement of the disclosure rules. US colleges and universities disclosed 8,300 transactions totaling $5.2 billion in 2025 — which includes funding from governments as well as private companies and individuals, the education department said in a statement. The largest source of funding last year was Qatar ($1.1 billion), followed by Britain ($633 million) and China ($528 million), it said.
