Alludes to the arrest of gendarme Nahuel Gallo and warns of the risk that the footballers will be taken as “hostages” by Maduro
MADRID, 8 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of National Security of Argentina, Patricia Bullrich, has opposed the participation of the Argentine U-20 National Team in the South American tournament that will be held starting at the end of January in Venezuela, warning of the risk that the soccer players could be taken as “hostages” by the Government of Nicolás Maduro.
Bullrich has acknowledged that the recent arrest in Caracas of the Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo has led Buenos Aires to consider developing a protocol to make clear “which are the places to which a member of a security force or an Argentine is at risk.” , according to the Argentine newspaper ‘Clarín’.
“Can our U-20 team go to Venezuela, can they take us hostage?” said Minister Bullrich, who has called on the competent organizations to change the venue of the tournament given the risk that the regime of Maduro can kidnap soccer players, “who can be a very important piece.”
In Bullrich’s opinion, the Venezuelan authorities could accuse these hypothetical detainees of “anything,” and he has ironically alluded to the fact that Caracas could justify itself by saying that “Argentina sent one who was a police officer among the soccer players.” “That’s what he clings to. So, it’s a risk,” he said.
“We are going to see what happens on January 10, how the events are going to happen in Venezuela, but we are facing a situation in which anyone can be taken hostage. The other day Maduro said that he had 125. Shall we to send the kids there? No!”, stressed the Argentine Minister of National Security.
Venezuela held presidential elections at the end of last July after which Maduro claimed victory, although the opposition candidate Edmundo González denounced fraud in the electoral count and stands as the true winner of the elections, supported by part of the international community. .
In this context, both leaders have announced their willingness to take office next Friday, January 10, a date that Bullrich alludes to as an important milestone for the future of Venezuela and the region as a whole.
Beyond this, relations between Caracas and Buenos Aires are not going through their best moment either due not only to the exchange of accusations between Maduro and his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, but also due to the breakdown of diplomatic relations after the Venezuelan elections and the recent arrest of the aforementioned Gallo.