BUENOS AIRES: Courts in Argentina and Venezuela on Monday issued mutual arrest warrants for their presidents amid a battle between “anarcho-capitalist” leader Javier Milea and socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela was first out of line with its arrest warrant for Argentina’s Milea over what it called the “theft” of a Venezuelan plane seized in Buenos Aires for alleged sanctions violations.
A court in Caracas also issued arrest warrants for Argentina’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, and Karina Milei, the president’s sister and presidential adviser. A few hours later, an Argentine court ordered the arrest of Venezuela’s Maduro and dozens of aides for crimes against humanity. Significantly, the court also asked the international police organization Interpol to issue a red notice for their arrest, local media reported.
A federal court in Buenos Aires has accused Venezuelan leaders of orchestrating the kidnapping and torture of Venezuelan citizens, reports added. The court invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows countries to prosecute certain serious crimes regardless of where they occurred.
Minister of the Interior Diosdado Cabello is among those wanted. Venezuela repeatedly negotiates with Argentina, where Milei, a vocal critic of Maduro-style socialism, took office last December. Argentina was among dozens of countries that did not recognize Maduro’s claim of a re-election victory in a July 28 vote that the opposition said could prove he stole.
Argentina, whose embassy in Caracas provides protection to Venezuelan opposition figures, was one of seven Latin American countries with which Caracas cut ties after the election. The arrest warrant issued by Venezuela for Milei concerns a cargo plane belonging to the Venezuelan company Emtrasur that was seized after landing in Argentina in June 2022, before Milei took office.
An Argentine judge then granted a request for the United States to seize the plane on the grounds that laws were broken when Iran sold it to Venezuela. Both countries are subject to US sanctions. On Monday, Venezuela’s Supreme Court charged Milei with aggravated robbery, illegal detention and “illegal interference with the operational security of civil aviation.”
However, the warrant was seen as largely symbolic as Milei is unlikely to set foot in Venezuela, the only country covered by the warrant. The Maduro regime has repeatedly lashed out at its critics over the past week, notably accusing the United States of conspiring to topple the chosen successor to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez.
