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HAVANA — Tens of thousands of Cubans demonstrated Friday outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana to decry the killing of 32 Cuban officers in Venezuela and demand that the U.S. government release former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

They crowded into the open-air José Martí Anti-Imperialist plaza across from the embassy in a rally organized by the Cuban government as tensions between Cuba and the U.S. spike following the U.S. attack Jan. 3 on Venezuela.

The 32 Cuban officers were part of Maduro’s security detail killed during the raid on his residence in Caracas to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.

“Humanity is experiencing something very complex, and (the U.S.) is governed by a president who considers himself an emperor,” said René González, 64, one of the protesters.

“We must show him that ideas are worth more than weapons,” he said. ”This march is a message of our unity. Independence is sacred, and we will defend it tooth and nail if necessary.”

Cuba’s national anthem rang out at Friday’s demonstration as large Cuban flags waved in the chilly wind and big waves broke nearby along Havana’s famed sea wall. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel shook hands with members of the crowd clad in jackets and scarves before speaking to them.

“The current U.S. administration has opened the door to an era of barbarism, plunder, and neo-fascism,” he said.

The demonstration was a show of popular strength after U.S. President Donald Trump recently demanded that Cuba make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela’s oil and money. Experts say the move could have catastrophic consequences since Cuba is already struggling with severe blackouts.

“No one here surrenders,” Díaz-Canel said. “The current emperor of the White House and his infamous secretary of state haven’t stopped threatening me.”

Washington has maintained a policy of sanctions against Cuba since the 1960s to pressure the island’s government to improve its human rights record, end its one-party communist system, and allow democracy. The sanctions have been further tightened during Trump’s presidency, suffocating the island’s economy.

“Cuba does not have to make any political concessions, and that will never be on the table for negotiations aimed at reaching an understanding between Cuba and the United States,” Díaz-Canel said. “It is important that they understand this. We will always be open to dialogue and improving relations between our two countries, but only on equal terms and based on mutual respect.”

After the president’s speech, the demonstration transitioned into a parade that Cubans call a “combatant march,” a custom that originated during the time of the late leader Fidel Castro. The crowd was led by a line of people holding pictures of the 32 officers killed.

“Down with imperialism!” the crowd yelled. “Cuba will prevail!”

The demonstration was organized a day after tens of thousands of Cubans gathered at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces to pay their respects to the 32 officers slain.

Their remains arrived home on Thursday morning, and they were scheduled to be laid to rest on Friday afternoon in various cemeteries following memorial ceremonies in all of Cuba’s provincial capitals.

PROVO, Utah — The Utah man charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk returned to court Friday as his attorneys seek to disqualify prosecutors because an adult child of a deputy county attorney involved in the case attended the rally where Kirk was shot.

Defense attorneys say the relationship represents a conflict of interest after prosecutors said they intend to seek the death penalty against Tyler Robinson for aggravated murder.

Robinson, 22, has pleaded not guilty in the Sept. 10 shooting of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, just a few miles north of the Provo courthouse.

The 18-year-old child who attended the event — and whose name was redacted from court filings — later texted with their father in the Utah County Attorney’s Office to describe the chaotic events around the shooting, the filings from prosecutors and defense lawyers state.

Robinson’s attorneys say that personal relationship is a conflict of interest that “raises serious concerns about past and future prosecutorial decision-making in this case,” according to court documents. They also argue that the “rush” to seek the death penalty against Robinson is evidence of “strong emotional reactions” by the prosecution and merits the disqualification of the entire team.

Defense attorney Richard Novak urged Judge Tony Graf on Friday to bring in the state attorney general’s office in place of Utah County prosecutors to address the conflict of interest. Novak said it was problematic for county prosecutors to litigate on behalf of the state while defending their aptness to remain on the case.

Utah County Attorney Richard Gray replied that Novak’s last-minute request was aimed at delaying the case against Robinson.

“This is ambush and another stalling tactic to delay these proceedings,” Gray said.

The director of a state council that trains prosecutors said he was not aware of any other major case where attorneys had been disqualified for bias.

“I would bet against the defense winning this motion,” Utah Prosecution Council Director Robert Church said. “They’ve got to a show a substantial amount of prejudice and bias.”

Several thousand people attended the outdoor rally where Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA who helped mobilize young people to vote for President Donald Trump, was shot as he took questions from the audience. The adult child of the deputy county attorney did not see the shooting, according to an affidavit submitted by prosecutors.

“While the second person in line was speaking with Charlie, I was looking around the crowd when I heard a loud sound, like a pop. Someone yelled, ‘he’s been shot,’” the child stated in the affidavit.

The child later texted a family group chat to say “CHARLIE GOT SHOT.” In the aftermath of the shooting, the child did not miss classes or other activities, and reported no lasting trauma “aside from being scared at the time,” the affidavit said.

Prosecutors have asked Judge Graf to deny the disqualification request.

“Under these circumstances, there is virtually no risk, let alone a significant risk, that it would arouse such emotions in any father-prosecutor as to render him unable to fairly prosecute the case,” county attorney Gray said in a filing.

Gray also said the child was “neither a material witness nor a victim in the case” and that “nearly everything” the person knows about the actual homicide is mere hearsay.

If the Utah county prosecutors were disqualified, the case would likely be picked up by prosecutors in a county with enough resources to handle a big case. That could be Salt Lake City, or possibly even the state attorney general’s office, said prosecution council director Church. The judge would have the final say, he said.

Prosecutors have said text messages and DNA evidence connect Robinson to the killing. Robinson reportedly texted his romantic partner that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”

At the school where the shooting took place, university president Astrid Tuminez announced Wednesday that she will be stepping down from her role after the semester ends in May.

The state university has been working to expand its police force and add security managers after it was criticized for a lack of key safety measures on the day of the shooting.

Prosecutors are expected to lay out their case against Robinson at a preliminary hearing scheduled to begin May 18.

WASHINGTON — A Cuban immigrant died in a Texas immigration detention facility earlier this month during an altercation with guards, and the local medical examiner has indicated that his death will likely be classified as a homicide.

The federal government has provided a differing account surrounding the Jan. 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, saying the detainee was attempting suicide and staff tried to save him.

A witness told the Associated Press that Lunas Campos died after he was handcuffed, tackled by guards, and placed in a chokehold until he lost consciousness. The immigrant’s family was told by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday that a preliminary autopsy report said the death was a homicide resulting from asphyxia from chest and neck compression, according to a recording of the call reviewed by the AP.

The death and conflicting accounts have intensified scrutiny into the conditions of immigration jails at a time when the government has been rounding up immigrants in large numbers around the country and detaining them at facilities like the one in El Paso where Lunas Campos died.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is legally required to issue public notification of detainee deaths. Last week, it said Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old father of four and registered sex offender, had died at Camp East Montana, but made no mention of him being involved in an altercation with staff immediately before his death.

In response to questions from the AP, the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, on Thursday amended its account of Lunas Campos’ death, saying he tried to kill himself.

“Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”

In an interview before DHS updated its account, detainee Santos Jesús Flores, 47, from El Salvador, said he witnessed the incident through the window of his cell in the special housing unit, where detainees are held in isolation for disciplinary infractions.

“He didn’t want to enter the cell where they were going to put him,” Flores told the AP on Thursday, speaking in Spanish from a phone in the facility. “The last thing he said was that he couldn’t breathe.”

Among the first sent to Camp Montana East

Camp Montana East is a sprawling tent facility hastily constructed in the desert on the grounds of Fort Bliss, an Army base. The AP reported in August that the $1.2 billion facility, expected to become the largest detention facility in the United States, was being built and operated by a private contractor headquartered in a single-family home in Richmond, Va. The company, Acquisition Logistics LLC, had no prior experience running a corrections facility.

It was not immediately clear whether the guards present when Lunas Campos died were government employees or those of the private contractor. Emails seeking comment on Thursday from Acquisition Logistics executives received no response.

Lunas Campos was among the first detainees sent to Camp Montana East, arriving in September after ICE arrested him in Rochester, N.Y., where he lived for more than two decades. He was legally admitted to the U.S. in 1996, part of a wave of Cuban immigrants seeking to reach Florida by boat.

ICE said he was picked up in July as part of a planned immigration enforcement operation due to criminal convictions that made him eligible for removal.

New York court records show Lunas Campos was convicted in 2003 of sexual contact with an individual under 11, a felony for which he was sentenced to one year in jail and placed on the state’s sex offender registry.

Lunas Campos was also sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervision in 2009 after being convicted of attempting to sell a controlled substance, according to the New York corrections records. He completed the sentence in January 2017.

Lunas Campos’ adult daughter said the child sexual abuse accusation was false, made as part of a contentious custody battle.

“My father was not a child molester,” said Kary Lunas, 25. “He was a good dad. He was a human being.”

Conflicting accounts

On the day he died, according to ICE, Lunas Campos became disruptive while in line for medication and refused to return to his assigned dorm. He was then taken to the segregation block.

“While in segregation, staff observed him in distress and contacted on-site medical personnel for assistance,” the agency said in its Jan. 9 release. “Medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services.”

Lunas Campos was pronounced dead after paramedics arrived.

Flores said that account omitted key details — Lunas Campos was already handcuffed when at least five guards pinned him to the floor, and at least one squeezed his arm around the detainee’s neck.

Within about five minutes, Flores said, Lunas Campos was no longer moving.

“After he stopped breathing, they removed the handcuffs,” Flores said.

Flores is not represented by a lawyer and said he has already consented to deportation to his home country. Though he acknowledged he was taking a risk by speaking to the AP, Flores said he wanted to highlight that “in this place, guards abuse people a lot.”

He said multiple detainees in the unit witnessed the altercation, and security cameras there should have captured the events. Flores also said investigators had not interviewed him.

DHS did not respond to questions about whether Lunas Campos was handcuffed when they say he attempted suicide, or exactly how he had tried to kill himself.

“ICE takes seriously the health and safety of all those detained in our custody,” McLaughlin said. “This is still an active investigation, and more details are forthcoming.”

DHS wouldn’t say whether other agencies were investigating. The El Paso medical examiner’s office confirmed Thursday that it conducted an autopsy, but declined further comment.

A final determination of homicide by the medical examiner would typically be critical in determining whether any guards are held criminally or civilly liable. When such deaths are ruled accidental or something other than homicide, they are less likely to trigger criminal investigations, while civil wrongful death lawsuits become harder to prove.

The fact that Lunas Campos died on an Army base could also limit state and local officials’ legal jurisdiction to investigate. An El Paso County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson declined to comment Thursday on whether it was involved in an investigation.

The deaths of inmates and other detainees after officers hold them face down and put pressure on their backs and necks to restrain them have been a problem in law enforcement for decades. A 2024 AP investigation documented hundreds of deaths during police encounters in which people were restrained in a prone position. Many uttered “I can’t breathe” before suffocating, according to scores of body camera and bystander videos. Authorities often attempt to shift the blame for such deaths to preexisting medical conditions or drug use.

Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist who has studied prone restraint deaths, said the preliminary autopsy ruling of homicide indicates guards’ actions caused Lunas Campos’ death, but does not mean they intended to kill. He said the medical examiner’s office could come under pressure to stop short of calling it a homicide, but will probably “stick to its guns.”

“This probably passes the ‘but for’ test. ‘But for’ the actions of the officers, he would not have died. For us, that’s generally a homicide,” he said.

‘I just want justice, and his body here’

Jeanette Pagan-Lopez, the mother of Lunas Campos’ two youngest children, said the day after he died the medical examiner’s office called to inform her that his body was at the county morgue. She immediately called ICE to find out what happened.

Pagan-Lopez, who lives in Rochester, said the assistant director of the El Paso ICE field office eventually called her back. She said the official told her the cause of death was still pending and that they were awaiting toxicology report results. He also told her the only way Lunas Campos’ body could be returned to Rochester free of charge was if she consented to his being cremated, she said.

Pagan-Lopez declined and is now seeking help from family and friends to raise the money needed to ship his body home and pay for a funeral.

After failing to get details about the circumstances surrounding his death from ICE, Pagan-Lopez said she got a call from a detainee at Camp Montana East who then put her in touch with Flores, who first told her about the altercation with guards.

Since then, she said she has repeatedly called ICE, but is no longer getting a response. Pagan-Lopez, who is a U.S. citizen, said she also twice called the FBI, where an agent took her information and then hung up.

Pagan-Lopez said she and Lunas Campos were together about 15 years before breaking up eight years ago. She described him as an attentive father who, until his detention, had worked in a minimum-wage job at a furniture store, the only employment she said he could find due to his criminal record.

She said that in the family’s last phone call the week after Christmas, Lunas Campos talked to his kids about his expected deportation back to Cuba. He said he wanted them to visit the island, so that he could stay in their lives.

“He wasn’t a bad guy,” Pagan-Lopez said. “I just want justice, and his body here. That’s all I want.”