Government of Argentina accuses Venezuela of kidnapping a gendarmerie non-commissioned officer
Stella Calloni
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, December 17, 2024, p. 24
Buenos Aires., The detention of the non-commissioned officer of the Argentine gendarmerie, Manuel Agustín Gallo, by Venezuelan immigration authorities when he entered that country from Cúcuta, Colombia, became for the Argentine Minister of Security, Patricia Bulrich, in a cause of warupon determining that it was a kidnapping; According to local media, Gallo was taken to a military prison.
The Venezuelan government responded in the last few hours that Gendarme Gallo, claimed by Argentina since December 8, is detained at the disposal of that country’s justice system, not in a military unit. The accusation is that he entered that nation to fulfill a mission (espionage) and is part of a conspiracy plan.”
For his part, the Argentine official of the Ministry of Security, Fernando Soto, referred to Gallo’s arrest as a serious issue because it is a kidnapping; It is something terrible because there is revenge against Argentina. According to Soto, the officer traveled to see his Venezuelan wife, María Gómez, and their two-year-old son, and he did so in the cheapest way possible, through Chile, Bogotá and the border with a remis (taxi).
He interpreted the arrest as a crime against humanitysince according to his information he was taken to Hellicoide, a building of the Venezuelan intelligence services which he described as a concentration camp, where there are people detained outside Venezuela’s institutional system for political persecution; There are thousands of detained-disappeared people there. The gendarme is another missing person because he made the mistake of entering Venezuela legally, it is absurd and an incredible thing.
The Minister of the Interior and Justice of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, confirmed that Gallo is detained and justified what was done by detailing that on Instagram it is seen that the gendarme He travels all over the world, but his salary is 500 dollars. What were you coming to do in Venezuela? What was your task? They don’t say that.
In a broadcast on the Venezuelan channel VTV, Cabello called fascist to Minister Bullrich, after she asserted that this incident It would cause a war. Declare war on England that stole the Falklands. Isn’t that a cause of war?asked.
He argued that The Argentine Foreign Ministry will see what it does. They decided not to have a relationship with ushe maintained, and ratified that Gallo’s detention will be maintained and that It is in the hands of justice that really works. With the breaking of diplomatic relations between both countries, the intervention of Brazil, Colombia and even France is sought.
In addition to this situation, after former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner assumed the presidency of the Justicialista Party (Peronist) last few days, the Supreme Court of Justice, which makes up the judicial party created by former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) and the United States embassy, decided that an accusation for alleged illicit enrichment be brought to oral trial, a case that was dismissed in 2021, since there is no evidence.