The Venezuelan Public Ministry announced this Wednesday (18) that it will request the arrest of Javier Milei, the sister and general secretary of the Argentine president, Karina Milei and the Argentine Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, for the delivery to the United States of an aircraft from Emtrasur, a Venezuelan state company.
In a statement, the Venezuelan Public Prosecutor’s Office prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, said that the organization appointed two prosecutors to begin proceedings to issue arrest warrants for the confiscation and shipment of the Boeing 747 to the US, which ended up destroying the aircraft, in February of this year.
The US alleged that the Boeing had previously belonged to the Iranian company Mahan Air, an airline targeted by sanctions for alleged links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, which the US Department of Justice describes as a “terrorist organization”.
At the time, Venezuela accused Argentina and the United States of promoting a “blatant theft” of the aircraft. In response, it banned Argentine aircraft from flying over its airspace.
Saab also said an investigation into alleged human rights violations in Argentina will be launched.
Argentine response
The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it repudiated the arrest warrants and that the handover of the plane was due to a court decision. “The aforementioned case was decided by the Judiciary, an independent power over which the Executive cannot and should not have any influence, applying an international agreement,” it said.
“The Argentine government reminds the Venezuelan regime that in Argentina the division of powers and the independence of judges prevail, something that unfortunately does not happen in Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Maduro,” he said.
Argentina’s Foreign Minister, Diana Mondino, in turn, described the arrest warrant as “cowardly” in a post on the social network X, the former Twitter account, and expressed “absolute support” for Milei, the president’s sister and Argentina’s Security Minister.
“Maduro once again demonstrates that he is a tyrant and that we are on the right side of history. We are not afraid,” he wrote.
Reprisal
The Venezuelan announcement comes a week after Argentina asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Nicolás Maduro and other members of the Venezuelan government “in light of the worsening situation” in Venezuela and the “commission of new acts that may be considered crimes against humanity.”
On Tuesday (17), the Federal Court of Argentina heard testimonies from alleged victims of crimes against humanity in Venezuela, as part of an investigation into human rights violations in the country. The country’s Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich, participated in the hearing.
This content was originally published in Venezuela announces it will request Milei’s arrest and Argentina responds: “we are not afraid” on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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