Amnesty International reproached Argentine President Alberto Fernández today for “ignoring” the Venezuelan government’s role in the country’s current refugee crisis, during which at least six million people fled the country.

The human rights watchdog also called on the Argentine government to “react forcefully” to human rights violations committed under Nicolás Maduro’s administration.

“The statements made by President Alberto Fernández at the recent Mercosur Summit do nothing more than ignore the responsibility of the Venezuelan government in its refugee crisis,” Amnesty said in a communiqué.

The organization listed “politically motivated arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial executions and excessive use of force” among the “mass human rights violations” in Venezuela.

“Prisoner of conscience Javier Tarazona has been detained since July 2, 2021. He continues to require urgent medical attention, as do other arbitrarily detained persons such as Emirlendris Benítez and Guillermo Zárraga,” the press release said. It also listed union leaders Leandro Azócar and Daniel Romero, as well as seven members of the Yupka Indigenous people, as victims of arbitrary detentions.

Last week, Amnesty International reported that arbitrary arrests in the country had spiked amid the recent attempts by several countries to normalize diplomatic relations with Maduro’s government.

On Tuesday, during the 62nd Mercosur summit in Misiones, Fernández said that the refugee crisis “is the result of the economic sanctions, basically, that Venezuela has suffered.” He met with Maduro on May 30 during the first summit of South American presidents, who tend to clash about Venezuela’s human rights situation.

Fernández also said that, as the Argentine president, he worked for the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights to be able to establish an office in Caracas after a UN report on Venezuela revealed numerous human rights violations in 2019.

Yesterday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, demanded the Venezuelan government to lift the “administrative disqualifications of members of the opposition,” referring to the ban of opposition leader María Corina Machado in the upcoming elections.

“What has happened with María Corina Machado is something that we take into account and that we are raising at the roundtable discussions, which is where we believe it should be raised,” Fernández said during the Mercosur summit, in which Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou called for the trading bloc to act on Machado’s electoral ban.

In 2021, the Venezuelan ruling party and the opposition started roundtable discussions in Mexico City, with the support of Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil. The talks have since stalled.

“The problem in Venezuela should be solved by Venezuelans, through dialogue among themselves,” Fernández said. “Not by countries meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.”