Argentine national detained in Venezuela freed, Milei administration confirms

Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno announced on Monday that Argentine citizen Gustavo Gabriel Rivara has been released from prison in Venezuela.  He added that Rivara appeared before the Argentine embassy in Colombia, where he was given assistance and provided with the required documentation to travel. “The Argentine government demands the Venezuelan regime immediately release Nahuel Gallo and Germán Giulani, who continue to be illegally detained, as well as all those who are still deprived of their freedom,” Quirno wrote on X.  EL CIUDADANO ARGENTINO GUSTAVO GABRIEL RIVARA SE ENCUENTRA EN LIBERTAD TRAS SU DETENCIÓN ARBITRARIA EN VENEZUELALa República Argentina confirma que Gustavo Gabriel Rivara, ciudadano argentino que se encontraba detenido de manera arbitraria, ha sido liberado.Las autoridades…— Pablo Quirno (@pabloquirno) February 2, 2026 There is a third Argentine who also remains detained in Venezuela and whom Quirno did not mention: Roberto Baldo. The news comes amid the release of numerous Venezuelans and foreign nationals who had been imprisoned in Venezuela.  The process began in early January, just days after members of the United States military attacked military facilities in the Caribbean country, seized then-President Nicolás Maduro, and took him to New York in an intervention that shocked the world. There is little confirmed information regarding Rivara’s biography. Venezuela outlet Reporte Ya posted a small report on him on January 14, 2026. In the post, they stated that he was born in Argentina in 1973 and that he was being held at El Helicoide, the infamous prison where the Maduro regime kept the majority of tis political prisoners.  Rivara, who is a writer, had been held in El Helicoide once before, while researching Chavismo during a trip across the Americas in 2002, but was later released.  Between December 2024 and January 2025, he returned to Venezuela to protest the Maduro regime. He is understood to have been imprisoned for a little over a year, since his latest Facebook posts show he was preparing to participate in protests carried out in Caracas on January 10, 2025. Three Argentine prisoners remain in Venezuela Gallo, Giuliani, and Baldo are currently the three Argentines considered to be political or arbitrary prisoners who remain detained in Venezuela. Military police officer Nahuel Gallo was arrested in December 2024 while trying to enter Venezuela from Colombia. He said he wanted to visit his partner and son but was accused of espionage as part of an alleged plot against the Venezuelan government. In January 2025, authorities released videos of Gallo to show he was alive and well, but did not disclose where he was being held. The Argentine government has repeatedly demanded Gallo’s release. Baldo, an Argentine-Venezuelan dual citizen, was arrested alongside his wife, Spanish-Venezuelan Montserrat Espinosa, on November 29, 2024. Baldo is being held at the Yare 3 prison, and Espinosa at the Bolivarian National Police’s headquarters. They were charged with terrorism, conspiracy, criminal association, and inciting hatred. Their two daughters, Camila and Paulina, told TN news channel that the couple was arrested after a family member asked them to deliver an envelope whose contents they “were unaware of,” and they did not know who the recipient was. The daughters added that their parents have suffered “serious health deterioration,” which they saw while visiting them. Lawyer Germán Giuliani arrived in Venezuela in April 2025 for a work trip. He was arrested on May 23. His family says they haven’t heard from him since December 21 and that he was arrested for having an Argentine accent.  He was accused of being “a terrorist, drug trafficker, and mercenary,” his wife, Virginia Rivero, told TN news channel. In September, rights watchdog Human Rights Watch and the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela nonprofit released a report stating that many political prisoners were not allowed phone calls or visits, even from their family, sometimes for a year or more.  “The lack of communication and denial of visits has become a form of torture,” the organizations wrote. Most of the 19 cases the organizations analyzed were in the Helicoide.