by The community of Venezuelans in Argentine exile presses for Javier Milei’s government to be tougher with chavismo.
Meanwhile, the official decision is that of not appoint ambassador to Caracas until evaluating what happens when there are elections in the Caribbean country. The order is send a chargé d’affaireswhich would be the diplomat Andrés Mangiarotti.
The Foreign Ministry is cautiously studying how to support the speech against the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. For the case, distance and a statement on the electoral ban of the opposition and favorite in Venezuela, María Corina Machadowere until now the manifest expressions.
But in recent months the Maduro regime once again showed its most repressive face with the breakdown of the dialogue with the opposition parties that had begun in Barbados. In addition, the regime opened a wave of arrests and prison requests for activists inside and outside the Caribbean country. That mobilized the Venezuelan diaspora in Argentina again.
Recently, Elisa Trotta GamusRecognized at a diplomatic level by the government of Mauricio Macri as ambassador of the now retired leader Juan Guaidó – a title that Alberto Fernández withdrew when he came to power -, she met at the beginning of months with the leadership of the Foreign Ministry and made a series of requests. .
He was with Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, with Vice Chancellor Leopoldo Sahores, and with the Secretary of American Affairs Mariano Vergara, and asked them to Argentina once again speaks out in a case for crimes against humanity against Maduro before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Specifically, it requested that Argentina once again support an investigation request presented in 2018 by six American governments Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Canada. So Mauricio Macri governed here. And the Argentine complaint was dismissed by Alberto Fernández upon coming to power because he considered that “the problem of human rights in Venezuela was disappearing.”
Venezuelans who live in the country and choose not to give their identity when consulted by this newspaper consider that by supporting the investigation carried out by the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, the Milei government would be sending a “powerful message in defending”. of human rights and against impunity, raising again the flags that were stained by Kirchnerism with its alliance with these authoritarian regimes.
Trotta also reportedly asked Mondino to help “press with the rest of the international community for the Barbados agreement to be fulfilled and for there are truly free and transparent elections in Venezuelaas well as the immediate release of more than 300 constantly tortured political prisoners.”
And at the same time, other respondents also understand that Maduro’s ambassador in Argentina is in an uncomfortable position in this country if one takes into account that his second, the now former first secretary of the embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jesús Jara Díaz has just been named “persona non grata” by the Argentine government.
It was after this Chavista diplomat was detained in Ezeiza when he tried to take photos of the Emtrasur Cargo plane which was handed over to the authorities last Sunday.
This generated a wave of furious criticism from the Maduro regime, which insulted Milei several times, and received their respective responses. Milei always showed Maduro a “dictator”.
However, the Government is cautious in each decision. Among other issues, because it seeks not to repeat mistakes like those made by the region during the Mauricio Macri government. For example, when the pressures and isolation of Chavismo undertaken by the failed Lima Group were accompanied. Through this, together with the government of Donald Trump and the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, the emergence of a government parallel to Maduro’s in Venezuela was supported, whose failure strengthened the dictatorship.
Although the presence of Vice Chancellor Sahores this Monday and Tuesday in The Hague confused diplomats in Holland who thought it was due to the complaint against Maduro – he traveled for activities with the Anne Frank Institute – the Government does not rule it out but clarifies: it would be a statement because Although former President Fernández said he had retired, when he presented the complaint with the testimonies of tortured and detained people who live in Argentina, they are already part of it and therefore there is no such withdrawal technically and legally. Specifically, Argentina withdrew from the Lima Group in 2021 and in that same year withdrew the complaint before the IPCsomething that procedurally does not make sense, because a criminal complaint continues its course.
Meanwhile, until now, the human rights directorate, which is now in the hands of Christian Machuca – a former official at the headquarters of international organizations in Geneva – promoted Argentina’s return to the so-called “Core Group of Venezuela.”
This is key because it led Argentina to be part of the resolution on the human rights situation in Venezuela in 2018 and 2019. Then the embassy in Geneva was in the hands of former vice chancellor Carlos Foradori, who will now be sent to the same mission in replacement of the Kirchnerism ambassador Federico Villegas Beltrán.
In 2020, Argentina withdrew from Core Group. And it was a slap in the face to the rest of the countries and Venezuelan organizations that suffered and continue to suffer harassment from the Maduro government.
Request by an activist
An investigation into human rights violations committed by the Maduro regime is also progressing in the Argentine Justice system. It was opened last year by federal prosecutor Carlos Stornelli after complaints presented by the Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (FADER) and the Clooney Foundation, based on the principle of universal jurisdiction that establishes that countries can prosecute serious crimes against humanity regardless of where they were committed and the nationality of the perpetrator or victim.
This Wednesday, through lawyer Tomás Farini Duggan, the FADER went to the Comodoro Py Courts to expand its complaint and include the most recent case, of arbitrary detention and forced disappearance of human rights defender Rocío San Miguelwho was arrested by agents of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) last Friday, February 9, at the Maiquetía international airport, when he was going on a trip with his daughter.
In addition to San Miguel, five of his relatives were also detained and held incommunicado. The regime accuses the activist of crimes of treason, terrorist conspiracy and association to commit a crime and ordered her confinement at the SEBIN El Helicoide headquarters, the largest torture center that exists in Caracas.
