The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights office, led by former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, held on Friday the indictment of two officials from the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence for the crimes of torture and murder in the case of Captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo, reported El Nacional.
“The torture charges against two military personnel in connection with the murder of Captain Acosta Arévalo are steps in the right direction in the fight against torture. We encourage Venezuela to take more measures to eradicate torture and ensure accountability,” she said. the high commissioner in a message posted on Twitter.
Two DDGCIM officials were charged with torture and homicide for the death of Captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo, which occurred in June 2019 after he collapsed before a judge when they presented him accused of attempted assassination and attempted coup.
The Venezuelan Program of Education-Action in Human Rights published the information on its Twitter account, in which it affirmed that the decision shows three fundamental and irregular aspects in the process. Then:
1.- “Complicity in the first accusation of the Public Ministry and, in particular, of the person who exercises the functions of attorney general (Tarek William Saab), where there was the firm intention of guaranteeing impunity in a case of serious violation of human rights” .
2.- “The complicity of the ombudsman Alfredo Ruiz, who remained silent before the accusation and later before the sentence, when it was his obligation to have challenged that process, in which the law against torture was also not applied.”
3.- “This new accusation shows the force of the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission and also of the Amnesty International report on the captain’s case. The overwhelming evidence forced the Supreme Court to review the sentence.”
Provea stated that the two alleged perpetrators very possibly acted with the order or complacency of high authorities of the Dgcim. The organization even pointed to Vladimir Padrino López, defense minister. Therefore, he demanded that the chain of command be investigated.
“The murder by torture of Captain Acosta Arévalo was the result of a criminal structure that turned serious human rights violations into a State policy, to such a level that there are reasonable grounds to consider that crimes against humanity have been committed,” they’re concluded. .
This was the role of the former Lieutenant Commander
June 30, 2019 – The Lieutenant Commander retired more than 10 years ago from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Fanb), Rafael Acosta Arévalo, was involved in the most recent coup operation that planned the assassination of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other officials of the National Government.
In videos presented as evidence by the former Vice President of Communication, Tourism and Culture, Jorge Rodríguez, the retired lieutenant commander affirms that if the head of state and Diosdado Cabello were eliminated, it would become “a forceful, mediatic, striking and of an international appeal that will determine the possible position of all those people who are doubting.
“Request for reserve ammunition” at least for three days of war. “
During a videoconference, alias “Gonzalo” explained that once the Venezuelan president and National Constituent Assembly president , Diosdado Cabello, were assassinated, he needed to have “collective weapons, explosives, pistols, reserve ammunition, etc.”
“My recommendation, I don’t know if it is planned? It is that there is ammunition in reserve for at least three days of war (…) It could become a conflict in the short term, but in the medium to long term, depending on how our strengths and weaknesses function, ”he added.
Assault plans: The BCV vault, El Sebin and neutralization of the communications antenna
In the coup plan, Alias “Gonzalo” had the responsibility of taking over park’s weapons and the vault of the Central Bank of Venezuela. The intention was not only to be able to finance terrorist acts, but also to take “146 brooms” in reference to rifles.
“The mission was to enter the vaults of the Central Bank of Venezuela, steal the BCV weapons park, steal armor with which to transport bank values and with those armor take the Miraflores Palace and assassinate the constitutional president Nicolás Maduro”, indicated the former Vice President of Communication, Tourism and Culture.
According to planning, this plan was to be carried out hours before the attack on the Venezuelan president. “The entrance to the vault will be twelve hours before ‘h’ time,” said the retired captain.
In addition, Arevalo planned the assault on the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) with 4 vehicles: 3 for the assault and one “as support fire to support the entry and exit of the Máximo units that are going to carry out the assault. ”, Detailed in a video Acosta Arévalo, where he mentions two of the three combat groups with foreign special agents, who were identified with code names: Sucre, Lander and Ulises.
In addition to this roadmap, there was the neutralization of an antenna at Fuerte Tiuna, for that task a single vehicle would theoretically be assigned.
“The idea was to gather a series of explosives and the trigger to blow up a communications antenna in Tazón, another communications antenna located in Fuerte Tiuna, blow up the La Cabrera tunnel, the entrance to Caracas through Tazón and the entrance through Petare” , Minister Jorge Rodríguez explained.
After 14 months of an operation carried out by intelligence agencies, Rafael Acosta Arévalo, was arrested for his participation in the assassination attempt, along with others involved in the coup plan, which was to be carried out at the end of June.
On June 29, through a statement, the National Government confirmed the death of the captain and requested the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, “a complete and exhaustive investigation of this unfortunate event.”
Immediately afterwards, Saab appointed Prosecutor 88 with competence in Human Rights in order to carry out proceedings “to clarify the causes and those responsible for this death.”
