On Monday, January 5, prosecutor Carlos Stornelli requested the extradition of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to Argentina to be investigated for human rights violations.
The request was filed with the National Criminal and Correctional Federal Court No. 2, headed by Judge Sebastián Ramos. In this case, Maduro is accused and has a valid international arrest warrant.
The Argentine Forum for the Defense of Democracy (FADD) filed the request for Maduro's extradition from the United States to Argentina. According to the Argentine News Agency, the document, signed by FADD's president, Buenos Aires legislator Waldo Wolff, calls for the extradition.
In 2024, while Wolff was still the Minister of Security of Buenos Aires and president of FADD, he filed a petition in the Comodoro Py courts. In September of the same year, the Federal Chamber of Buenos Aires ordered the "immediate detention" of Maduro and Diosdado Cabello for questioning on charges of "serious violations of human rights."
It was also requested that the decision be notified to Interpol to request their international arrest through its well-known red alert system.
In his ruling, which was accessed by the Argentine News Agency, Stornelli noted that "the situation of detention weighing on the accused Nicolás Maduro Moros in the territory of the United States of North America has become public" and recalled that there is a call to testify with a valid arrest warrant in the Argentine case.
FADD argued in a press release: "At that moment, the relevant actions were initiated against Nicolás Maduro and those who form the high, medium, and low commands of the regime that has committed acts classified as serious crimes against humanity, as recognized by international human rights law."
Stornelli described the start of the active extradition process as "urgent" "so that he can be brought before the present process," which would allow the intervention of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and U.S. authorities to advance a possible transfer of Maduro.
Judge Ramos must now decide whether to grant Stornelli's request and order the sending of a diplomatic request to formally demand the delivery of Maduro from the United States to Argentina.
