MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine opposition wants Maduro arrested if he attends Celac Summit

“We want an Argentina free of dictators!” Bullrich said

Argentine opposition leader and presidential hopeful Patricia Bullrich Thursday called for the arrest of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro should he travel to Buenos Aires for next week's VII Celac Summit. Maduro's travel plans are yet to be announced.

 ”If Nicolás Maduro comes to Argentina, he must be arrested immediately for having committed crimes against humanity. Just as happened with (former Chilean dictator Augusto) Pinochet in London in 1998. Justice must act to safeguard the universal validity of human rights,” Bullrich, a former Security Minister under President Mauricio Macri and current chairwoman of the opposition Propuesta Republicana (PRO) party, said on Twitter.

The VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), is to be hosted by President Alberto Fernández next Tuesday in Buenos Aires. Argentina currently holds the pro-tempore presidency of the bloc formed by almost every OAS member except Canada and the United States but with the addition of Cuba.

“We want an Argentina free of dictators! Let us all say NO together to the 'visit' of autocratic presidents. Our country is NOT a place to sit on the sidelines,” Bullrich had written earlier this week.

PRO is a part of the Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio - JxC) coalition which has filed a motion before the Lower House of Congress to have Maduro declared a “persona non grata” due to “his responsibility in human rights violations against the Venezuelan people.”

The Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (Fader) also filed documents before the Judiciary for Maduro to be investigated for “crimes against humanity” together with Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Cuba's Miguel Díaz-Canel. Fader is made up of opposition political leaders from Argentina and Venezuela, human rights, intellectuals, and journalists.

Fader's denunciation is based on numerous reports from international organizations such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and Human Rights Watch (HRW).