The arrest warrant is based on the confiscation of a Venezuelan plane by Argentine authorities at Buenos Aires airport.
In a public announcement, Attorney General Tarek Saab issued arrest warrants for three high-profile Argentine politicians.
“This public ministry of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela announces the assignment of two prosecutors specialized in the matter, who are conducting the pertinent proceedings in the case, and are processing arrest warrants against the following citizens, based on the aforementioned: one, Javier Milei, president of the Argentine Republic; Karina Milei, secretary general of the Presidency of the Argentine Nation; and Patricia Bullrich, minister of security of the Argentine Nation,” said Saab.
Saab invoked charges of “aggravated robbery, money laundering, unlawful deprivation of liberty, fabrication of a criminal offense, unlawful interference, aircraft sabotage, and conspiracy to commit a crime.” He also qualified Milei of a “neo-nazi fascit, airplane thief…brutal threat to the entire hemisphere.”
The arrest warrant comes in response to the Argentine Attorney General’s arrest warrant for Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, and other high-profile military and intelligence officers on charges of torture, kidnapping, and executions.
As part of the diplomatic crisis between Milei’s Argentina and Maduro’s Venezuela, the arrest warrant for the Argentine president is based on the confiscation of the Boeing 747-300 Emtrasur cargo plane, owned by the Venezuelan state, in 2022. The plane, along with its five Iranian crew members, was under U.S. scrutiny for its alleged ties to the Quds Force, the elite unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The plane was suspected of serving as a cover for intelligence operations in Latin America, leading to its confiscation by the Argentine judiciary. The crew, consisting of 19 members, including 14 Venezuelans, was later released. However, the cargo plane was eventually sent to the United States in February of this year, where it was dismantled.
MNA/PR