Buenos Aires Herald 
Venezuela has issued an arrest warrant for 16 Argentines in the case of a confiscated plane, which Nicolás Maduro’s government says was “stolen” by the Argentine authorities.
Attorney General Tarek Saab had already ordered the arrest of President Javier Milei, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, and Presidency Secretary Karina Milei, over the plane case. Now, he has also issued a warrant against judges, politicians, lawyers and prosecutors.
The accusations mark a new chapter in the growing diplomatic spat between the two countries. The presidents, who sit at opposite ends of the political spectrum, have been trading insults since Maduro claimed victory in elections widely regarded as fraudulent. Maduro expelled Argentina’s diplomatic mission to Caracas after the election and recalled Venezuelan diplomatic personnel from Buenos Aires.
The aircraft, which had been stationed in Buenos Aires since 2022, was confiscated by the United States government in February, two months after Milei took office. Saab accused the Milei siblings and Bullrich of aggravated robbery, illegal intervention, false imprisonment, criminal association, and rendering the plane useless, among other crimes.
The 16 Argentines named in the new warrant are accused of the same crimes.
Saab has now requested arrest warrants against judges Federico Villenas, Carlos Vallefin, Roberto Lemos Arias, Pablo Bertuzzi, Leopoldo Bruglia, and Mariano Llorens, as well as congressional deputies Gerardo Milman and Ricardo López Murphy, Buenos Aires City Security Minister Waldo Wolff, city lawmaker Yamil Santoro, and others.
The list also includes prosecutor Carlos Stornelli, who two weeks ago asked the Buenos Aires Criminal Federal Chamber to issue an arrest warrant for Maduro and his right-hand man, Diosdado Cabello. The Argentine prosecutor is demanding that they be investigated for alleged torture, kidnapping, and executions as part of a “systematic plan.” The court issued the warrant last week.
Aviation expert and libertarian internet personality Franco Rinaldi is also wanted by the Venezuelan judiciary. “Thank you for this honor, dictator Nicolás Maduro,” he wrote on X.
The case centers around a Boeing 747-300 plane owned by the Venezuelan public air cargo company Emtrasur, which landed in Buenos Aires to refuel in June 2022.
At the time, the Argentine judiciary confiscated the plane after authorities in the United States warned that it could be linked to international terrorism. The Venezuelan government had bought the plane from Iranian airline Maham Air. On board were five Iranian and 14 Venezuelan crew members, who were initially not allowed to step off the plane under suspicion that they, too, could be involved in terrorism.
The plane remained at Ministro Pistarini (Ezeiza) International Airport for a year and a half. U.S. officials asked that the plane be confiscated, but the Argentine judiciary did not grant their request until February 2024, after the Milei government had taken office. The government says they were not involved in the decision to confiscate the aircraft because it was made by the judiciary.
Ten days ago, Saab also opened a case to investigate allegations that Milei and Bullrich have committed human rights violations as part of the government’s austerity measures.
