Argentine judges approve investigation of Venezuelan embassy siege, abduction of opposition workers

Argentina’s Justice Department ordered an investigation on Friday into the Maduro’s regime abduction of opposition campaign workers and its subsequent siege on its embassy in Caracas where six opposition activists have sought refuge.

On March 28, ADN reported that six Venezuelan opposition members took refuge in the embassy, and that the Maduro regime has subsequently turned off the building’s water and power as a means of forcing the occupants out.

The decision was made by Chamber 1 of Argentina’s Federal Criminal and Correctional Chamber, which was acting on a petition to assert “universal jurisdiction and extraterritorial jurisdiction” to investigate human rights crimes in Venezuela.

In a unanimous decision, Judges Leopoldo Bruglia, Pablo Bertuzzi and Mariano Llorens all agreed that “It universal jurisdiction and extraterritorial jurisdiction was appropriate in such a circumstance.

The ruling said the Maduro’s regime’s acts of abducting campaign workers and shutting off power and water at the Argentine embassy were of “extreme gravity” and that they require action without delay or delay to protect the “broad sectors of the civilian population.”

The judges ruled that proceedings commenced by prosecutor Carlos Stornello to “counterbalance the criminal actions carried out by the state authorities of the Venezuelan government” could move forward

Among the accused are “Nicolás Maduro Moros, Diosdado Cabello and all those identified as responsible, who will stand trial for serious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity,” the ruling said.

One of the judges specifically said that the case must provide for “all urgent precautionary measures that allow the subjection of those responsible to the process, such as their immediate arrest warrant.”

The case will now return to the hands of Judge Sebastián Ramos.

The upcoming July 28 elections in Venezuela have attracted worldwide attention due to the ongoing repression against opposition leaders, human rights activists and journalists in Venezuela.

After the kidnapping of several campaign members of opposition leader María Corina Machado, at least six opponents of the Maduro regime took shelter in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas after facing threats from Maduro operatives.

Former Venezuelan deputy Omar González Moreno, leader of the Vente Venezuela party and one of the six refugees in the embassy, ​​said at the end of March that since the regime learned from the presence of the opponents there, “a siege of the headquarters began.” diplomatic”, including cutting off electricity and water supplies.

González expressed that the decision of Argentine President Javier Milei to welcome the politicians "persecuted" by Maduro's leadership is "absolutely brave."

The Milei administration reported that it had “hosted leaders of the Venezuelan opposition at the official residence of the Argentine embassy in Caracas,” and denounced the government forced outage of electricity services at the Caracas based embassy.

The decision to shelter the opponents was made in the face of “the acts of harassment and persecution directed against political figures in Venezuela” after the controversial closing of the registration of candidates for the July 28 presidential elections.