Argentine court orders arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro and his right-hand man

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A federal court in Argentina on Monday ordered the “immediate” arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello for alleged crimes against humanity against dissidents.

The court's decision came in response to an appeal by Argentine prosecutor Carlos Stornelli after an earlier ruling dismissed the case against the two Venezuelan heads of state.

Federal Court members Pablo Bertuzzi, Leopoldo Bruglia and Mariano Llorens ordered that “the arrest warrants against Nicolás Maduro and Diosdado Cabello be executed immediately and that their international arrest be ordered through Interpol for the purpose of extradition to the Argentine Republic,” the resolution states.

The order comes hours after Venezuela’s Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant against Argentina's President Javier Milei amid a controversy between the two countries over detention on Argentine territory – and delivery to the United States – a cargo plane that Washington says was sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a Venezuelan state-owned company.

These exchanges exacerbate tensions between Venezuela and Argentina, which have existed since the far-right Milei came to power in December and led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations.

The case against Maduro and his right-hand man was brought before the Argentine courts in early 2023 by the Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (FADER), taking into account Argentine jurisprudence on human rights and the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows crimes against humanity to be prosecuted even if they were committed outside the country's borders.

According to the plaintiffs, there has been a systematic plan of repression, disappearance, torture, killing and persecution of dissidents in Venezuela since 2014.

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