The Venezuelan government admitted to having arrested Argentine military police officer Nahuel Agustín Gallo. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello accused him of being “on a mission” in the country, did not give any details regarding where or under what conditions Gallo is being held. 

Non-commissioned officer First Corporal Gallo was arrested on charges of espionage while trying to enter Venezuela on December 8. According to his family, he was there to visit his partner — who is Venezuelan and went back home months ago to care for his mother — and his son.

Argentina’s security and foreign ministries publicly denounced the situation on Friday. Venezuela had remained silent until Monday afternoon, when Cabello addressed the issue during a press conference.

“A person was arrested. You take a look at his Instagram and see he travels all around the world, but he has a US$500 salary. How does he do it?” Cabello said. “What was he doing in Venezuela? What was his task here? He doesn’t say that. We will probably be able to answer that some time.”

Gallo’s public Instagram account shows dozens of pictures of him on trips. Most of them, however, seem to be within Argentina, except for some in Brazil.

Cabello, who is second-in-command of Venezuela’s ruling Venezuela’s United Socialist Party, said the arrest “hurt” the Argentine government. He defended his country’s sovereignty, saying that the Argentine Foreign Ministry decided to cut diplomatic ties with Venezuela and that “makes things harder.”

“It hurt [Argentina] because he was here on a mission. It’s not like the mission has been aborted, but rather we’ve struck it, hard,” Cabello said, adding that Gallo’s motive for visiting Venezuela was “an excuse” and a “façade.”

Cabello also called Bullrich a “fascist” and said she is “threatening” Venezuela by saying this situation is a reason to go to war. “Leave war to the British, who took your Malvinas islands. Is that not a motive for war?”

Bullrich hit back at Cabello, calling him “the lackey of a criminal and cowardly dictatorship.” “Kidnapping an Argentine military police officer doesn’t make you strong, it makes you desperate. Argentina won’t submit to tyrants,” she wrote in a post on X.

Bullrich demanded Cabello release Gallo “or suffer the consequences.” She also attempted to discredit Venezuela’s claims, sharing a spreadsheet that shows that the officer traveled outside of Argentina five times via land passages. Three trips were made in 2024, and the others in 2018 and 2019.

On Saturday, Bullrich claimed Gallo is being held in an intelligence facility in Táchira, about 800 kilometers from Caracas. That day, the Argentine military police filed a habeas corpus complaint, saying the detention was “illegal.”

Argentine Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein also questioned the arrest. He said it reminds him of “dark times” in his country. “This young man was arrested and held as a hostage, I don’t know what for,” he told Radio Mitre on Tuesday.

Werthein argued that “they took him away for no reason,” adding that they are not disclosing where he is and that no one can visit him.

“Kidnapping an Argentine citizen who was visiting his family crosses all boundaries.”

He also questioned the situation of the six Venezuelan opposition members who have been living under political asylum in the Argentine embassy in Caracas since March, who are demanding safe passage to leave the country. The minister called on Venezuela to “end the vigilance and psychological terror” against them.