Partner demands release of Argentine officer held for 'terrorism' in Venezuela / Photo: Handout - Official Sources/AFP/File
Partner demands release of Argentine officer held for 'terrorism' in Venezuela
The partner of an Argentine security service officer, jailed in Venezuela more than a month ago for "terrorism," demanded his immediately release on Tuesday.
Nahuel Agustin Gallo, a member of Argentina's gendarmerie -- a border police force -- was arrested on December 8 when he entered Venezuela from neighboring Colombia to visit his Venezuelan partner Maria Alexandra Gomez and their son, 2.
Caracas said he was held on suspicion of "terrorism" and for alleged ties with "a group of people which has tried to destabilize" the country.
Venezuela is in the midst of a political crisis since Nicolas Maduro claimed to have won elections last July that the opposition and much of the international community consider he stole.
Argentina has rejected the claims against Gallo, 33.
Gomez said Tuesday that no-one has had any news from Gallo for 45 days.
"The demand stays the same, the demand is for his immediate liberation," she said in a video on social media.
The matter adds to a growing hostility between Caracas and Buenos Aires, which broke off diplomatic ties after Argentina rejected Maduro's disputed re-election to a third six-year term.
The United States, European Union and several of Venezuela's democratic neighbors recognize opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the country's legitimate president-elect.
Milei has vowed to exhaust all diplomatic avenues to bring Gallo back home safely.
Argentina's embassy in Caracas, where six Venezuelan opposition figures have taken refuge, has been under Brazilian police guard since August 1 -- the day after Venezuela's election.
Caracas arrested hundreds of people who had turned out to protest Maduro's victory claim, many of whom remain behind bars.
N.Clarke--MC-UK
