BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Javier Milei on Tuesday demanded that Venezuelan authorities immediately free an Argentine soldier arrested earlier this month who Milei said entered Venezuela to visit family, in the latest flare-up between the two South American nations.
At a military school event, President Javier Milei said security forces under the command of the "criminal dictator Nicolas Maduro" arrested Nahuel Gallo, a soldier with the Argentine national force known as the Gendarmeria. Milei said the "only crime" Gallo committed while in Venezuela was to visit his wife and son.
Later on Tuesday, Venezuela's top diplomat shrugged off Milei's comments and instead accused him and his security minister of taking part in a "terrorist plan."
Milei's government, including Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, has previously called for the release of Gallo, who was arrested on Dec. 8 after entering Venezuela's western state of Tachira from neighboring Colombia.
"We demand his immediate release and we'll exhaust all diplomatic paths to return him safely to Argentina," said Milei.
Although the two nations have not formally cut diplomatic ties, Argentine diplomats were expelled from Caracas last August following Venezuela's July presidential election that Milei's government forcefully rejected as fraudulent.
The libertarian Milei has frequently criticized and insulted his socialist Venezuelan counterpart Maduro.
In a statement posted on Telegram later on Tuesday, Venezuela's foreign minister, Yvan Gil, accused Gallo of seeking to violently "infiltrate" Venezuela and said that he is being processed in line with the country's system of justice.
"They have committed a serious mistake and have left out in the open countless pieces of physical evidence that implicate them in a terrorist plan," wrote Yvan, referring to Milei and Bullrich.
Much of the recent friction between the two governments stems from the aftermath of Venezuela's contested presidential election.
Maduro was declared the winner of the July 28 vote by the government-aligned electoral authority and the Supreme Court, while the opposition says its candidate won a landslide victory after it published thousands of scanned voting machine receipts its observers obtained.
On Monday, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello claimed that Gallo had been sent on an aborted "mission," but provided no details.
"We've dealt them a heavy blow thanks to state security forces," said Cabello.
(Reporting by Walter Bianchi in Buenos Aires; Additional reporting by Vivian Sequera in Caracas; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Leslie Adler)
