Buenos Aires, Dec 7 (NA) -- Nahuel Gallo, a first corporal in the Argentine National Gendarmerie, has been detained in Venezuela since December 8, 2024, when he was allegedly kidnapped by Venezuelan officials under the orders of President Nicolás Maduro.
This situation caused the relationship between the government of Javier Milei and his Venezuelan counterpart to become even more strained, leading to a major diplomatic conflict. Argentina, represented by its ambassador to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Diego Sadofschi, denounced "human rights violations" and requested the arrest of Maduro and Diosdado Cabello.
Gallo's family and the Argentine government denounced that the gendarme was detained when he tried to enter the country through the border with Colombia to visit his wife and son. The charges against him in Venezuela are for "alleged links to terrorist activities" and "espionage".
"I didn't want to leave because my intention was to return with Nahuel, as we had planned," his wife stated at the time.
During the first months of detention, the Republic's Prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, assured the gendarme's wife that the detention "had been a mistake", that what happened "was a diplomatic conflict", and that she should "wait and have patience".
In September, Griselda Heredia, Gallo's mother, called for her son's release and expressed that she felt "desperation" when the United States sent its fleet to the Caribbean; she called former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who in turn asked her to remain calm.
"The only thing Bullrich told me was to stay calm, that they are constantly doing everything possible and working," Heredia indicated.
The Argentine government denounced this situation before international bodies such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS), considering Gallo's detention "arbitrary and illegal", and even qualified it as "forced disappearance" and a "crime against humanity".
A year later, the Argentine gendarme continues to be detained in the Caribbean country, and is possibly still in the maximum security prison on the outskirts of Caracas, where he has been since July 2025. His wife, María Alexandra Gómez, confirmed in July that the gendarme had been held at El Rodeo prison, located on the outskirts of Caracas, Miranda state.
