The Argentine government urged the ICC to request arrest warrants “against Maduro and other leaders of the regime”

The Argentine Foreign Ministry on Friday urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request arrest warrants against President Nicolás Maduro “and other leaders of the regime,” “given the worsening of the situation” following the presidential elections in the Caribbean country on July 28.

“Given the worsening of the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela since July 28 and the commission of new acts that may be considered crimes against humanity, the Argentine Republic urges the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to request the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue arrest warrants against Nicolás Maduro and other leaders of the regime,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Are there grounds for requesting arrest warrants “against Maduro and other leaders of the regime”?

Javier Milei’s government announced that on Monday it will present a note to the Prosecutor’s Office in which it argues that “the evidence gathered in the course of the investigations carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court and the events that occurred after the presidential elections of July 28 are sufficient elements to consider the merit of issuing the aforementioned arrest warrants” against Maduro and other Chavista leaders.

The Foreign Ministry’s statement recalled that on July 19 Argentina rejoined the complaint against Venezuela before the ICC filed in 2018 by several countries, and which was withdrawn in 2021, during the government of Alberto Fernández.

Friday’s announcement comes hours after Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said during the III Regional Meeting of the Madrid Forumthat the situation in Venezuela is “sad.” He added: “If there is any way that we can help to achieve a quick and peaceful solution, all the better.”

After being one of the first to denounce fraud in the Venezuelan elections, which according to the National Electoral Council gave victory to Maduro, Milei’s government recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the “undisputed winner” of the elections on August 7.

Following the ultra-liberal president’s statements, Maduro’s government decided to expel Argentine diplomatic personnel from Caracas one day after the elections, a measure it also applied to six other Latin American countries.