The Argentine Government attacked the Argentine Football Association (AFA) this Monday for having taken steps to release the gendarme Nahuel Gallowho was detained in Venezuela for more than a year, and stated that this sports entity will have to explain “What is your relationship with the Chavista regime?”
This is how the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina expressed himself, Manuel Adorni, on the surprise release of Gallo on Sunday after the efforts made by the president of the AFA, Claudio ‘Chiqui’ Tapia, by recognizing that the Government had no possibilities to negotiate because there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries.
“What is your AFA relationship with the Chavista regime?”
“Those involved (AFA leaders) “They will have to explain their relationship with Chavismo so that things happen the way they happened,” Adorni stated in an interview with the radio station El Observador.
The Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo arrived in Buenos Aires, released, early Monday morning on a private plane chartered by the AFA, and was received at the airport by his wife, María Alexandra Gómez, and authorities of their country, among them, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno.
Management for months
According to AFA sources told EFE, the institution headed by Claudio Tapia and the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), in charge of Jorge Gimenez, They began efforts months ago to finalize Gallo’s release.
Adorni recognized that the Venezuelan Government, under the administration of Delcy Rodríguez, He had no intention of handing the agent over to the Argentine authorities through diplomatic channels, stating: “We have no relationship with Chavismo.”
Even so, Adorni highlighted the work of the ministers and Chancellor Quirno in the official tasks to achieve Gallo’s freedom and his return to the country, and expressed his satisfaction that the gendarme can be reunited with his family after more than 14 months of detention.
Behind the Government’s back
The senator and former Minister of National Security, Patricia Bullrichassured that the Government was not aware of the efforts made by the AFA.
“I didn’t want to hand it over to our Government, but through some who are friends. They looked for those who are in some way part of that ideology and they handed it over to them,” Bullrich stated this Monday in an interview with Radio Miter.
Venezuela and Argentina broke diplomatic relations since Milei’s arrival to the Executive, at the end of 2023.
This surprising resolution of the case takes place in the midst of great political and judicial conflict between the Argentine Government and the AFA, with Claudio Tapia at the center of the controversy due to accusations of corruption against him and his refusal to convert the Argentine clubs into public limited companies, as the ultra-liberal Government of Javier Milei wants.
