CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities are investigating a detained member of Argentina’s Gendarmeria national security force for links to international right-wing terrorism, Venezuela’s attorney general announced yesterday.
Attorney General Tarek Saab later in the day escalated the diplomatic spat, declaring that Argentina’s security chief and foreign minister have been added as subjects of the investigation into the case.
Gendarmeria officer Nahuel Gallo was detained after attempting to enter Venezuela irregularly earlier this month, according to Venezuelan officials, and Argentina’s government has repeatedly demanded Gallo’s immediate release.
Gallo is under investigation “for his connection to a group of people who attempted from our territory and with the support of international far-right groups to carry out a series of destabilizing and terrorist actions,” Saab said in the first of two statements his office issued yesterday.
At a press conference with Gallo’s family, Argentina’s foreign minister, Gerardo Werthein, called the accusations from Caracas a “big lie” and pledged further action to resolve the situation.
Argentina’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, told reporters that Gallo lawfully entered Venezuela and had a return ticket.
“His entrance was completely legal. What wasn’t legal was the way they kidnapped him at the border,” said Bullrich, adding that Gallo was visiting Venezuela to see his son during his time off.
In a second statement, Saab accused Werthein and Bullrich of unspecified ties to what he dubbed “this aggression against Venezuela,” adding that both are now considered persons of interest in the investigation.
Argentina and Venezuela have tense relations, with right-wing libertarian President Javier Milei often clashing with Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Although the two nations have not formally cut diplomatic ties, Argentine diplomats were expelled from Caracas last August following Venezuela’s July presidential election that Milei’s government forcefully rejected as fraudulent.
