The Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office announced it has requested an arrest warrant against Argentine President Javier Milei, Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich and Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei. The move follows a dispute over the retention and transfer of a Boeing 747-300M to the United States, sold by Mahan Air, a sanctioned Iranian airline, to EMTRASUR, a Venezuelan cargo freighter that is a subsidiary of national state-owned Conviasa.
This incident has exacerbated tensions between Venezuela and Argentina, which have been strained since Milei took office in December of the previous year. Venezuela accused Argentina and the United States of “collusion” and of violating international aviation regulations and the “commercial, civil, and political rights” of Emtrasur, the Venezuelan airline involved.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced a criminal investigation and appointed two specialized prosecutors to process arrest warrants against Milei, his sister Karina (Secretary General of the Argentine Presidency), and the Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich. The accusations pertain to the alleged “theft and dismantling” of the aircraft in February.
The Argentine government condemned these arrest requests. In a statement, the Argentine Foreign Ministry argued that the matter was resolved by the judiciary independently, referencing a January ruling when an Argentine judge approved the seizure of the cargo plane at the request of the United States.
“The aforementioned case was resolved by the Judiciary, an independent power over which the Executive cannot and should not have any interference whatsoever, in application of an international agreement.
The Argentine Government reminds the Venezuelan regime that in the Argentine Republic the division of powers and the independence of judges prevail, something that unfortunately does not occur in Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Maduro,” states the Foreign Office in a release.
Details on the Seized Aircraft
In June 2022, the Emtrasur Boeing 747-300M was detained in Argentina after being redirected from Córdoba to Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza Airport due to bad weather. The aircraft had originally attempted to head to Montevideo, Uruguay, for refueling but was denied overflight rights and diverted to Ezeiza. Upon arrival, Argentine authorities found irregularities in the passenger manifest.
Further investigation revealed that the aircraft was acquired from the Iranian airline Mahan Air, an Iranian airline accused of supporting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, through a triangulation involving a company in the United Arab Emirates. This transaction violated U.S. sanctions, as Iran is prohibited from trading in U.S.-origin goods due to its inclusion in the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list.
In May 2023, the U.S. requested the seizure of the aircraft, which had been grounded at Ezeiza since its detention. An Argentine court granted this request in January 2024, leading to the aircraft’s transfer to the United States in February. Despite protests from Venezuela, the plane was flown to the U.S., marking a significant escalation of the international legal and diplomatic incident.
General Saab stated that the situation will have “consequences in a competent court here in Venezuela with the respective arrest warrants.” He stressed that the incident “cannot go unpunished” while showing images of the dismantled plane in the U.S.
Relations between Argentina and Venezuela have deteriorated since Milei, an ultraliberal and far-right economist, became president. He has called Maduro a “poverty-inducing socialist.” Maduro has repeatedly insulted Milei in public, comparing him to Adolf Hitler, to which Milei has responded by dismissing the insults as compliments.
