The Argentine Foreign Ministry will ask the International Criminal Court to put out arrest warrants for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his senior government officials, it announced on Friday evening.

The ministry said that the situation in Venezuela has worsened since the July 28 elections, and that it would send a letter to the ICC Prosecutor’s Office on Monday urging him to ask the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue the warrants.

The announcement came the same day as immigration requirements were relaxed for Venezuelans, underscoring the Milei government’s hostility to the country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

The ICC is currently investigating Venezuela for alleged crimes against humanity in the lawsuit known as “Situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela I.” The investigation started in 2018, when Argentina (during Mauricio Macri’s presidency), Canada, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru asked the prosecutor to initiate the proceeding. These alleged atrocities include murder, torture, rape, political persecution, and forced disappearance.

In March, the Appeals Chamber rejected an appeal submitted by Venezuela and confirmed it would continue investigating the country.

The Argentine government was one of the first to recognize the victory of opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia in the July 28 presidential elections. Maduro claimed victory, but has yet to present the data to prove it. UN experts have said his decision to pronounce himself the victor without providing that information had “no precedent in temporary democratic elections.”

Regional left-wing leaders like Brazil’s President Lula Da Silva and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro have not recognized Maduro’s self-proclaimed victory.

After the elections, Argentine President Javier Milei traded barbs with Maduro. The Venezuelan leader called Milei “monster face” after the libertarian economist called Maduro a dictator. Venezuela expelled Argentina’s diplomatic mission after the elections and recalled its own staff from Buenos Aires. 

A new measure also entered into force Friday allowing Venezuelan citizens to enter Argentina and regularize their migratory status if they had run into difficulties because of the closure of the Venezuelan embassy.

For years, the Venezuelan government has been accused of violating human rights. After the elections, which the opposition called a fraud, the government relaunched “Operation Tun Tun (knock knock)”, which consists of a webpage, WhatsApp number, and an app that allows users to anonymously report neighbors or acquaintances for “subversive activity” like attending protests, posting anti-government statements on social media, or even criticizing the government verbally. 

Security forces then detain suspects at their residences, usually charging them under the country’s “anti-hate law,”  which allows up to 20 years of imprisonment for statements that “incite hatred” against government officials.

The Venezuelan government says it has arrested more than 2,000 protesters since the elections.