Venezuelan court issues arrest warrant for President Milei, top officials

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Venezuela's highest court on Monday approved a warrant for the arrest of Argentina's President Javier Milei, a vocal critic and ideological rival of counterpart Nicolas Maduro.

The warrant was issued over the "theft" of a Venezuelan plane seized in Buenos Aires for alleged sanctions violations. But it is only symbolic as Milei is unlikely to set foot in this country, where the warrant applies.

The cargo plane owned by Venezuelan company Emtrasur was confiscated after landing in Argentina in June 2022, before Milei took office.

An Argentine judge then granted a request for the United States to seize the plane on grounds that laws were broken when Iran sold it to Venezuela. Both countries are under US sanctions.

The 19-member crew was composed of Venezuelans and Iranians – one of whom the United States suspected had links to the Al Quds Force, a group of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards classified as a terrorist organization by the United States.

All the crew were initially detained but later allowed to leave.

On Monday, Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), accused of being loyal to the Maduro regime, granted a request by Attorney General Tarek William Saab for an arrest warrant against Milei over the affair.

The warrant was issued "in accordance with the provisions of the substantive criminal laws," the court said in a statement.

Warrants were also issued for Argentina's Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and Karina Milei, the president's sister and presidential chief-of-staff.

Milei and his ministers stand accused of crimes including aggravated robbery, unlawful detention and "unlawful interference with the operational safety of civil aviation."

Ties between the South American countries worsened rapidly after self-declared "anarcho-capitalist" Milei, a vocal critic of Maduro-style socialism, took office last December.

Argentina was among dozens of countries not to recognise Maduro's claim to reelection in July 28 presidential elections which the opposition said it can prove he stole.

Argentina – whose Embassy took in Venezuelan opposition officials – was among seven Latin American countries whose diplomatic staff were asked to leave Venezuela as Caracas severed relations with nations critical of the election.