The open confrontation between the Presidents of Argentina, Javier Mileiand of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, lives a new chapter after the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office announced on Wednesday the request for an arrest warrant against the Argentine president.
According to the criteria of
The justification: the case of the Venezuelan-Iranian plane held in Buenos Aires since 2022 and sent last February to USA.
The measure, announced on Wednesday by the Venezuelan attorney general, Tarek William Saabrepresents a new turning point in the strong diplomatic crisis that both countries are going through, which began with Milei’s arrival to the Argentine Presidency and which worsened after the recent presidential elections in the Caribbean country.
The arrest warrant requested by the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office is not limited to Milei alone, but also extends to her sister, Karina Milei, Secretary General of the Presidency, and the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich.
The case for which the Maduro Government is promoting this measure is that of a Venezuelan-Iranian plane, whose crew members were suspected of espionage and who had been held in Buenos Aires since 2022 until he was sent to the United States at the beginning of this year, after Milei became President and at Washington’s request.
The Boeing 747-300M Dreamliner cargo plane, formerly owned by Iran’s Mahan Air and currently belonging to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of Venezuelan airline Conviasa, left for the United States on February 12, despite objections and threats from Caracas, which materialized a month later with the ban on aircraft coming from or going to Argentina from its airspace.
In his statement yesterday, the Venezuelan Attorney General said that his country’s executive branch has the power to “exercise its jurisdiction.” as a form of “defense against actions aimed at attacking, ignoring and disrespecting criminal responsibilities” and accused the Argentine Government of committing the crimes of “aggravated robbery, money laundering, unlawful deprivation of liberty, simulation of a punishable act, unlawful interference, disabling of aircraft and criminal association.”
Argentina’s response
Argentina responded shortly afterwards, expressing its repudiation of the arrest warrants and stressing that “the aforementioned case was resolved by the Judiciary, an independent power over which the Executive cannot and should not have any interference, in accordance with an international agreement.”
“The Argentine government reminds the Venezuelan regime that the separation of powers and the independence of judges prevail in the Argentine Republic, something that unfortunately does not occur in Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Maduro,” the Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
This incident follows other similar episodes that have taken place since the presidential elections of July 28 in Venezuelawhich, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE) of that country, won Ripe, result considered fraud by part of the international community, including Argentina.
The most recent took place on September 6, when the Argentine Foreign Ministry The International Criminal Court (ICC) has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request an arrest warrant against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and “other leaders of the regime” in light of “the worsening of the situation” following the presidential elections, after rejoining in July the complaint against the Caribbean country before the ICC filed in 2018 by several nations.
The most resonant episode of recent months was, however, the expulsion of Argentine diplomats from the embassy in Caracas by the Maduro governmentin response to the fraud complaint of the Milei Executive, a particularly sensitive issue given that the diplomatic headquarters of the South American country provided asylum to six Venezuelan opponents.
In view of this, the Government of Brazil In early August, the US agreed to take charge of the headquarters and take care of the opposition members who had taken refuge there. This, however, caused new tensions with Venezuela, which announced earlier this month that it would revoke the South American giant’s authorization to guard the building and opened a new chapter in regional diplomatic tensions.
After decades of harmony between both nations – since the bond between the now deceased Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) until the participation of Alberto Fernandez (2019-2023) in pro-dialogue contacts in Venezuela-, Milei and Maduro embody an ideological and unbridled duel in their discourse, which now also has its diplomatic counterpart.
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