Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office requests the arrest of more Argentine officials, although they cannot be detained outside Venezuelan territory

( Spanish) – The Public Ministry of Venezuela asked this Monday to extend an arrest warrant for several Argentine ministers, judges, prosecutors and deputies for having detained a plane from the Venezuelan state company Emtrasur and having ordered the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and the Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello , within the framework of an investigation for possible crimes against humanity.

In a message broadcast on national television, the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, said that the arrest requests are based on alleged aggravated robbery, money laundering, unlawful deprivation of liberty, simulation of a punishable act, illicit interference, disabling of aircraft and association to commit a crime. In practice, the Venezuelan authorities do not have any power to detain any foreign citizen outside the territory.

One of those named, the Minister of Security of Buenos Aires and president of the Argentine Forum for the Defense of Democracy, Waldo Wolff, reacted on his X account to the request and described it as the “greatest compliment I received in my dedicated life.” to the defense of democracy.”

Federal judge Federico Villena, also mentioned by Saab and who authorized the seizure of the plane, told that “judges must be prepared to tolerate all types of pressure and overcome all types of attacks from political, economic, etc. powers. internal and external. It is part of our function. Without prejudice to this, the attack on the Argentine Judiciary by the Venezuelan State is truly worrying.” He added that “the independence of justice is a flag that all of Argentina in particular and Latin America in general must defend at all costs and in any scenario, because an independent justice is the basis of every modern republic and is what guarantees the freedom of the towns.”

is attempting to contact the Argentine Ministry of Justice for its reaction to the request.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Venezuela ratified arrest warrants against the president of Argentina, Javier Milei; his sister and general secretary of the Presidency, Karina Milei; and the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich.

At that time, the Argentine Foreign Ministry criticized the Prosecutor’s accusations in a statement and said that the sending of the plane to the United States was a case resolved by the Judiciary, not by the Government.

Manuel Cobela and Federico Jofre contributed to this report.