The Maduran dictatorship has issued arrest warrants for another 16 Argentines in the case of the Emtrasur plane

He regime of Nicolás Maduro diplomatic tensions escalated this Monday with Argentina issuing arrest warrants for several Argentine court officials and public figures related to the case Emtrasura Venezuelan-Iranian plane held in Buenos Aires since 2022 and sent to the United States last February.

Tarek William Saabthe Attorney General of Venezuela, announced that arrest warrants had been requested for the MP Gerardo Milmanjudges Federico Villenas, Carlos Vallefin, Roberto Lemos Arias, Pablo Bertuzzi, Leopold Bruglia and Mariano Llorens.

The list of wanted people also extends to the deputy Ricardo Lopez MurphyMinister of Security of Buenos Aires Waldo Wolfflegislator of the city of Buenos Aires Yamil Santorolawyer María Eugenia Talerico, a lawyer Leonardo Camicherprosecutors Carlos Stornelli, Cecilia Incardona, Diego Iglesias and Franco Rinaldi, commercial aviation expert.

According to Saab, the charges include aggravated robbery, money laundering, unlawful deprivation of liberty, criminal simulation, unlawful interference, disabling an aircraft and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Argentine authorities have not yet officially responded to the measure, which represents a new turning point in the intense diplomatic crisis the two countries are going through, which began with the arrival of Javier Milea to the Argentine presidency and which after fraudulent presidential election in the Caribbean country.

The case for which the Maduro regime is pushing for the capture of Argentine officials is that of the Venezuelan-Iranian plane whose crew members were suspected of espionage and that he was held in Buenos Aires from 2022 until he was sent to the United States at the beginning of this year, after the arrival of Milea in the presidency and at the request of Washington.

He Boeing 747-300M Dreamliner cargo owned by an Iranian company Mahan Air and currently belongs to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan airline Conviasashe left for the United States on February 12, despite objections and threats from Caracas that came true a month later your country’s airspace ban for aircraft arriving from or bound for Argentina.

Before today’s orders, the Maduro dictatorship He has already issued an arrest warrant for Milea, his sister Karina Milea, the General Secretary of the President of the Republic, and the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrichová..

At the time, Argentina responded by rejecting the arrest warrants, stressing that the case Emtrasur it was “resolved by the judiciary, an independent power in which the executive cannot and should not interfere, in accordance with international agreement”.

“The Argentine government reminds the Venezuelan regime that separation of powers and judicial independence prevail in the Argentine Republic, which unfortunately does not occur in Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro’s regime,” Argentina’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

After decades of harmony between the two nations – from the bond between those already deceased Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) a Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) until the participation of Fr Alberto Fernandez (2019-2023) in pro-dialogue contacts in Venezuela – Milei and Maduro embody an ideological and unrestricted discursive battle that now also has its judicial and diplomatic correlate.

The controversy is over Emtrasur the following are similar ones that have taken place since then presidential election on July 28 in Venezuelain which Maduro was declared the winner in the considered result fraud parts of the international community, including Argentina.

On September 6, the Argentine Foreign Ministry urged International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek arrest warrants for Maduro and “other regime leaders” given the “deterioration of the situation” after the presidential election, after rejoining the Caribbean country’s 2018 ICC complaint against the Caribbean country to the ICC in July.

Also in the middle of the month, Argentine prosecutors Carlos Stornelli —one of those on whom an arrest warrant was issued by today’s Chavista dictatorship — and Jose Aguero Iturbe They demanded order from the Federal Chamber of Buenos Aires the investigation and capture of Maduro and from his right hand, Diosdado hair. Thirty military and intelligence agents accused of being responsible for torture, kidnapping and executions in their country as part of a “systematic plan” also reached the decision.

The most high-profile episode of the last few months, however, was the expulsion of Argentine diplomats from the embassy in Caracas by the Maduro regime in response to Milea Executive’s fraud complaint, a particularly sensitive issue given that the South American country’s diplomatic headquarters granted asylum to six Venezuelan dissidents.

Given this, the Brazilian government agreed in early August to take over the headquarters and take care of opposition asylum seekers there; something that, however, has sparked fresh animosity with Venezuela, which announced earlier this month that it would revoke the South American giant’s authority to guard the building, opening a new chapter in regional diplomatic tensions.