The Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office acknowledged for the first time this Friday that he is 33 years old, and that he is being investigated for alleged terrorism crimes. Attorney General Tarek William Saab said in a statement that Gallo tried to enter Venezuela irregularly “hiding his true criminal plan under the guise of a sentimental visit.” He added that the Argentine is being investigated “for his links to a group of people” who, “with the support of international far-right groups,” planned to “carry out a series of destabilizing and terrorist actions.”
At the beginning of this week, the Argentine Justice had demanded from the Government of Venezuela that, as well as “the reasons for his detention and at the disposal of which competent judicial authority he is located.” The information given by the Public Ministry does not specify where Gallo is detained, despite the complaints presented by Argentina, which insists that the non-commissioned officer only traveled to Venezuela for family reasons. Gallo’s capture further deteriorated relations between the governments of Nicolás Maduro and Javier Milei. The attorney general’s presentation points to an alleged complicity of the Casa Rosada with the gendarme. “The statements and actions carried out by the Argentine government, using the relatives of the accused, make clear the complicity of the authorities of that Nation in the subversive plans that seek to attack the Venezuelan State and its legitimate institutions by any means.”
The announcement from Caracas coincided with a scheduled meeting in Buenos Aires of Argentine authorities with the gendarme’s mother, Griselda Heredia, and other relatives. In a joint press conference, the Argentine Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, and the Foreign Minister, Gerardo Werthein, accused the Venezuelan Government of “lying” about the circumstances of Gallo’s arrest. The letter from the prosecutor’s office allowed, at least, to confirm that Gallo is “under judicial process,” Werthein said. The gendarme went from being missing for almost 20 days to being a detainee “under judicial process.” But the accusations of terrorism, added the Argentine foreign minister, “are a big lie about a young, family person who works in the Gendarmerie. [policía militar]. The rest is a horrible invention.”
Gallo was on vacation and traveled to Venezuela to visit his wife, María Gómez, a Venezuelan sports journalist, and their two-year-old daughter. The couple lives in the Argentine province of Mendoza, where Gallo is assigned at the border crossing with Chile, but the woman returned to Caracas seven months ago to take care of her mother. Gallo took a Copa airline flight from Santiago to Bogotá and from there he headed by land to Cúcuta, where he entered Venezuela through the international bridge on December 8. His intention was to get to the Táchira airport to then fly to the Venezuelan capital, but he was intercepted by the Venezuelan police, who detained him, accusing him of espionage.
The Argentine Government presented documents this week proving that Gallo had completed the immigration procedures that Venezuela requires to enter the country and paid the corresponding fees. “We want Nahuel to be returned to Argentina immediately. We cannot and will not accept that Gallo is a terrorist, he is a citizen who was like a dad, he was not like a gendarme,” Bullrich said.
Last week, the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, Chavismo’s number two, had advanced the accusations of terrorism against Gallo from his television program and accused Bullrich of being a fascist. “Here in Venezuela there is justice, authorities, sovereignty and independence. Whoever comes to conspire must assume his responsibility,” Cabello said. The Maduro Government has toughened its policy of persecution and in recent months foreigners visiting the country have been subjected to arbitrary arrests on the grounds of being spies and being involved in conspiracies. The NGO Foro Penal reported that, in addition to the Argentine gendarme, eight Americans, four Colombians, three Ecuadorians, two Spaniards and citizens from Guyana, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay are currently being held under this modality.
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