Nahuel Gallo detained in Venezuela | The Argentine gendarme accused of “terrorist plans” causes a new clash between Nicolás Maduro and Javier Milei

Gallo, first corporal of the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA), 33 years old, was arrested on December 8 in Venezuela after entering that country from Colombia, through a land border crossing. The Argentine authorities stated that the gendarme’s intention was to reach the Venezuelan state of Táchira (west) to visit his partner and their son, who turns two years old in January.

The couple, María Gómez, of Venezuelan nationality and resident in Argentina for six years, told the local press that Gallo was transported in a “black van” by the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence of Venezuela (DGCIM).

The woman stated that she has been in Puerto La Cruz (eastern Venezuela) “for personal reasons” for seven months and that she last contacted Gallo on December 8. “We are all distraught,” he declared on the radio in recent days.

On Monday the 16th, the Minister of the Interior of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, confirmed the arrest of Gallo, whom he accused of traveling to the Caribbean country to “fulfill a mission,” without giving more details.

A day later, Foreign Minister Yván Gil stated that the Argentine gendarme is being prosecuted for alleged “terrorist plans” that “compromise” the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, and the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich.

“(Milei and Bullrich) have made a serious mistake and have left countless physical evidence along the way that implicates them in a terrorist plan (…) They were discovered red-handed trying to introduce violent elements into Venezuela,” he said. Gil via Telegram.

According to the regime, Gallo was part of a “terrorist plan” against Venezuela with the participation of “foreign mercenaries.” The authorities also said that they found “more than 470 rifles” that were intended to “cause deaths” in the Caribbean country.

Hard crossing

The case provoked a harsh exchange of accusations. On Tuesday the 17th, the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, described Nicolás Maduro as a “criminal dictator”, when denouncing the “illegal kidnapping” of Gallo.

“I want to refer to the illegal kidnapping of Nahuel Gallo in Venezuela. He was detained by the security forces in charge of the criminal dictator Nicolás Maduro for the sole crime of visiting his partner and his son,” Milei said at a ceremony to present sabers and medals at the Military College.

Earlier, Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich described the arrest as “an almost act of war” and accused the Maduro regime of taking foreign hostages to “ensure their impunity” at a time when the Maduro takeover of power is approaching. Next January 10th.

“We believe they are accumulating prisoners,” Bullrich told Miter radio, “to protect themselves from having stolen a government. “They are capturing people, tourists, normal people and holding them hostage to the regime to ‘ensure’ impunity.”

In response, Diosdado Cabello called Bullrich “fascist” and “sick with hate” and rejected the Argentine government’s version of Gallo’s reasons for traveling to Venezuela.

Bullrich warned Cabello: “Free Nahuel Gallo or face the consequences.” “You are the lackey of a criminal and cowardly dictatorship. Kidnapping an Argentine gendarme does not make you strong, it shows you desperate. Argentina does not submit to tyrants. Every minute you hold him, you become more exposed as the miserable oppressor that you are. “Freedom never kneels before dictators,” he said.

The Argentine government demanded Gallo’s immediate release and assured that it will exhaust all diplomatic channels to return him safely to Argentina. He also stated that it is not recommended for its citizens to travel to Venezuela.

“More than a recommendation, it is obvious that one approaches a cruel dictatorship such as that of Maduro or the Chavista regime, indeed that carries an inherent danger in approaching that dictatorship. So, it is obvious that visiting a dictatorship involves risks,” said presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni during a press conference at the Casa Rosada.

The relationship between both countries was already tense. Six collaborators of the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado have been taking refuge in the Argentine embassy in Caracas since March. In addition, the Argentine legation has been guarded by Brazil since August 1, after Venezuela broke relations with Argentina over its position on the disputed July 28 elections in which Maduro was declared the winner.

Luis Nunes, a Venezuelan political analyst based in Peru, points out that the detention of Gallo by the regime is another distracting element. “It is simply an excuse to tire Argentina’s patience and get President Javier Milei, who does not mince his words, to answer him in the way he answered him. Now we are going to be in this give and take until at least January 10,” he tells El Comercio.

For his part, José Carrasquero, a Venezuelan political analyst and expert in electoral campaigns, points out that although relations between both countries are already quite deteriorated, this episode deepens that deterioration and further separates the agendas of both parties. “For now, the Maduro regime doesn’t care about this, because it puts its entire agenda on distancing itself from the rest of the world,” he points out.

“In any case, it is enough to wonder how a single person is going to overthrow a government, especially if we are talking about a person who has a sentimental connection with the mother of his son and is going to visit her in Venezuela. What is the terrorism that is seen there? It’s ridiculous,” adds Carrasquero.

A known strategy

Experts agree that arresting people, including foreigners, to accuse them of wanting to attack the government is not new for the Maduro regime.

“It is the classic behavior of a criminal, the regime obtains hostages and then exchanges those hostages for other things. They exchanged Nicolás Maduro’s nephews, known as the narco nephews, for some Americans who were imprisoned in Venezuela. Later they also changed Alex Saab for someone else. It is a common practice for them,” says Carrasquero.

He adds that using victimization is normal in dictatorial or authoritarian regimes, which always have to look for an enemy or someone who persecutes them. It is common to resort to the figure of an alleged coup d’état or assassination.

“It’s what they’ve always said. If you review the last 25 years of Chavismo, this is the most persecuted government, with the most attacks. In the end they spend it in a crying area, I imagine to cause pity in those who follow them or pay attention to them,” he says.

Nunes considers that this is also a case of political revenge for the asylum granted to opponents in the Argentine embassy. “The regime forces have not yet dared to violate the diplomatic norm and have not entered the embassy, ​​but they have invaded the houses around it. The arrest of this gendarme is revenge. It has no legal basis, the man was on a family visit,” he points out.