The Maduro – Milei bid hides more than what it appears to be

Marcos Salgado

The Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice issued on Monday a “preventive” arrest warrant against the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, for “aggravated robbery” and six other crimes related to the Venezuelan state-owned EMTRASUR plane, which was hijacked in Argentina since June 2022 and sent to the United States in February, where it was scrapped.

The Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) explained that, following the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the arrest warrant was issued against Milei, as well as against his sister, the Secretary General of the Argentine Presidency, Karina Milei, and the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich.
The arrest warrant is for the crimes of “aggravated robbery, money laundering, simulation of punishable acts, unlawful deprivation of liberty, unlawful interference in the operational security of civil aviation and disabling of aircraft and association to commit crimes”.

From Argentina, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni replied last week: “it is all ridiculous. A dictatorship has no reason to understand the division of powers, but the decision on the plane is a judicial decision of Argentina and not of the president of the country”, he said.

In reality, that is not the case. The Argentine justice, in a decision of the Federal Chamber, a controlling court, ruled that no crime had been established in the operation of the aircraft held at Ezeiza, and released the aircraft. Previously, the same judges had ordered the release of the crew, composed of Iranian and Venezuelan nationals. It was the Argentine executive branch that handed over the aircraft to the United States, when Milei had only been in office for a few weeks.

In addition to the court case and the request for the arrest of the Milei brothers and Bullrich for the seizure of the plane, the Venezuelan prosecutor’s office announced the beginning of an investigation for alleged crimes against humanity committed by Milei and his officials in the repeated repression against popular sectors protesting against the pauperization to which they are subjected by the ultra-right-wing president and his plan for the reconversion of the Argentine economy for the benefit of the concentrated sectors of the economy.

An eye for an eye

Both the arrest warrant and the investigation for human rights violations constitute a clear response of the Venezuelan State to Milei’s offensive against Maduro.

The Argentinean moves in line with the interests of the United States in the region, and does so without ambiguity. He wants to be a good student of Washington and that is why he reestablished the momentum before the International Criminal Court of the complaint against Maduro, which had been formalized by the countries of the extinct Lima group, during Mauricio Macri’s presidency.

During the four years of Alberto Fernandez, Argentina distanced itself from the denunciation and preferred to improve relations with Venezuela, in line with the strategy of other governments, such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. With Milei in the Rosada, the alignment with Washington was sung and announced. The followerism also includes Israel and indefensible alignment with the genocide in Gaza.

Also on Monday, on the same day that the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s decision was made public, a resolution of the Federal Court of Buenos Aires was published in the Argentine media, instructing Federal Judge Sebastián Ramos to request the international arrest of President Maduro and the current Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, in a case that has been going on for some time but was recently reactivated, where Maduro and Cabello are being held responsible for alleged crimes against humanity against opponents.

At the same time, the Argentine Foreign Ministry urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request an arrest warrant against President Maduro and “other leaders of the regime”. The Argentine government rushed to recognize, without solid evidence, the opponent Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the elections, which triggered the total rupture of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Brazil assumed, with the due agreement of the Venezuelan government, the representation of Argentina’s interests in Venezuela, as well as the custody of the diplomatic properties. In one of them, the ambassador’s residence, six members of Vente Venezuela, María Corina Machado’s group, are still waiting for a safe-conduct to fly to Buenos Aires. A decision that seems further away every day.

The strategy of the Venezuelan diplomacy is clear: not to give an inch. Thus, for example, the air operations of companies from Panama and the Dominican Republic are still suspended in Venezuelan airports, also in retaliation for the disregard of the electoral results of July 28.

Particularly with Argentina, there is no solution to this crisis. On the contrary, everything indicates that it will continue, as long as Milei remains in La Rosada, it will grow and will have new chapters. Although, of course, the tone and scope will be defined in the State Department, and not in the San Martín Palace in Buenos Aires.

*Argentine journalist of the founding team of Telesur. HispanTV correspondent in Venezuela, editor of Questiondigital.com. Analyst associated with the Latin American Center for Strategic Analysis (CLAE, estrategia.la).