President Javier Milei’s government has filed a complaint against Venezuela at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the arrest of an Argentine Gendarme (Border Guard) at the centre of a diplomatic row.
The "arbitrary detention and forced disappearance" of Nahuel Agustín Gallo constitutes "a serious and flagrant violation of human rights, demonstrating a systematic pattern of crimes against humanity" that were "clearly under the jurisdiction" of The Hague-based ICC, said Argentina’s Foreign Ministry in a statement issued Thursday.
“This fact constitutes a grave and flagrant violation of human rights, evidencing a systematic pattern of crimes against humanity being committed in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which are clearly under the jurisdiction of the ICC,” it argued.
"The Argentine government will continue to use all legal and diplomatic resources to guarantee the rights of Nahuel Gallo, to protect human rights and to demand international justice,” it concluded.
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced last week that the 33-year-old, who was arrested on December 8, would be charged with "terrorism," fuelling tensions between Caracas and Buenos Aires.
Saab said that Gallo was being investigated for allegedly belonging to "a group of people who attempted to carry out a series of destabilising and terrorist actions from our territory and with the support of international far-right groups."
Diosdado Cabello, the powerful interior minister, claimed that Gallo "wanted to infiltrate" the country.
The Milei government said Gallo, a lieutenant corporal in the Gendarmerie, travelled to Venezuela from Colombia to see his girlfriend and their child and spend the end of year holidays with them.
‘Big lie’
Argentina's Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein called the Venezuelan allegations "a big lie," while Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said that Gallo "entered Venezuela in a completely legal manner."
President Milei has called Gallo's detention an "abduction," while branding left-wing Venezuelan President Nicolàs Maduro a "criminal dictator."
Buenos Aires has recognised Maduro's opponent Edmundo González Urriutta in the widely disputed July 28 presidential election as the winner, prompting Caracas to cut diplomatic ties.
Several members of the Venezuelan opposition, linked to banned leader María Corina Machado, have taken refuge in the Argentina’s Embassy in Caracas, over which Brazil has temporarily taken custody.
Six Venezuelan opposition figures entered the embassy to escape "terrorism" accusations. Five of them remain inside.
Gallo is unable to get consular visits because Venezuela in July kicked out diplomatic staff from Argentina and six other Latin American countries after their governments questioned Maduro's claimed re-election victory in disputed elections.
A federal court in Mendoza Province last week urged Caracas to provide information on Gallo's whereabouts, denouncing his “forced disappearance” and considering that the case fell under the principle of “universal jurisdiction.”
UN warning
Venezuelan authorities must respect people's rights to life, liberty and personal security in the run-up to the start of Maduro's third term on January 10, UN experts said this week.
Venezuelan opposition leaders have called on their supporters to prepare mass protests in connection with Maduro's inauguration following last July’s contested elections.
"We strongly call upon the authorities to ensure that the rights to peaceful protest and free expression be exercised without fear of reprisal," Marta Valinas, chair of the UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, said in a statement.
"We remind security forces responsible for maintaining public order that they should adhere to the strictest international standards on the use of force," she said.
"Any violations of rights must be promptly, thoroughly, and impartially investigated and prosecuted by independent courts, with full respect for due process."
The statement highlighted that the fact-finding mission had documented the violent repression of the protests that erupted after Maduro was declared the winner in the July 28 elections, despite results published by the opposition appearing to show their candidate won by a landslide.
The crackdown on the protests left 28 dead, around 200 injured, and more than 2,400 under arrest, sparking what the mission described as "one of the most acute human rights crises in the country's recent history."
Only a handful of countries, including Venezuelan ally Russia, have recognised Maduro as the winner.
With more demonstrations planned around Maduro's inauguration, fact-finding mission member Francisco Cox warned that Venezuela's "repressive apparatus remains fully operational."
"Between August and December 2024, authorities detained at least 56 political opposition activists, 10 journalists, and one human rights defender," he pointed out.
"Those who order arbitrary detentions and the imposition of torture or other ill-treatment, as well as those who carry them out, bear individual criminal responsibility."
The fact-finding mission pointed to the latest figures from the Foro Penal NGO indicating that 1,849 people remain detained for political reasons in Venezuela.
"Hundreds remain in prison under degrading conditions, subjected to torture, as well as inhuman, cruel, and degrading treatment," the statement said, warning that "new individuals are detained daily.”
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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