BUENOS AIRES – Venezuela witnessed a rare moment of relief and cautious optimism on Thursday with the unexpected release of numerous detainees, a significant development in a nation often gripped by uncertainty.

However, it was a less publicized event further afield that Venezuelan human rights advocates found to be a beacon of hope for justice, as long as the regime of former President Nicolás Maduro continued its hold on power.

On the same day, an Argentine federal court directed its judiciary to continue probing alleged crimes against humanity purportedly committed by officials in Venezuela’s national guard. This came after rejecting an appeal from a former Venezuelan officer who had contested Argentina’s authority to prosecute Venezuelan nationals.

The judges ruled that Argentina must proceed with the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, a legal doctrine allowing for the prosecution of human rights abuses anywhere in the world, regardless of where they were perpetrated, according to a ruling obtained by The Associated Press.

Legal experts assert that the timing of this decision carries a powerful message.

In a surprising move, after condemning Venezuela and its leadership, the Trump administration elevated Delcy Rodríguez—Maduro’s chosen deputy known for her oversight of the notorious intelligence services—much to the astonishment of both Venezuelans and the global community.

“We cannot lose our focus at this moment,” said Ignacio Jovtis, director for Latin America at InterJust, an organization seeking accountability for international crimes and representing three of the Venezuelan plaintiffs. “Victims in Venezuela are still waiting for justice.”

Whatever relief Venezuelans felt seeing Maduro in handcuffs “has nothing to do with the process of bringing truth and reparation to victims and trying perpetrators for crimes against humanity,” Jovtis added.

From cruel dictatorship to judicial success story

It’s no coincidence that this investigation is progressing in Argentina, a country that has learned a thing or two about prosecuting a strongman from its groundbreaking efforts bringing to justice the brutal military dictatorship that oversaw the killing or disappearance of as many as 30,000 Argentines from 1976 to 1983.

Over 1,200 ex-army officers have been tried and sentenced in Argentina, many to life in prison, and hundreds more await trial.

As one of just a handful of countries whose law permits the investigation of crimes-against-humanity cases beyond its borders, Argentina has increasingly taken center stage in lawsuits ranging from the torture of dissidents under Franco’s dictatorship in Spain to atrocities committed by the military against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Venezuelans take hopes for accountability to Argentina

Frustrated by the impunity in their home country and the limits of the laboriously slow International Criminal Court, many Venezuelans have taken their quests for justice far south to Argentina.

Thursday’s criminal complaint accuses 14 Venezuelan National Guard officers of human rights abuses dating to 2014, when security forces under Maduro aggressively cracked down on anti-government protests, arresting, torturing and killing suspected dissidents.

Argentina began investigating the allegations in 2023. A catalogue of torture was spelt out in court as former detainees and family members of killed protesters flew to Buenos Aires from around the world to give testimony.

Last year, Justo José Noguera Pietri — a key defendant and former commander of Venezuela’s national guard — asked the Argentine judiciary to dismiss the case and void the outstanding arrest warrant against him.

That would have allowed him to safely travel to Argentina and, if he wished, appear in court without risk of arrest.

A federal appeals court denied his requests Thursday, citing the “extreme gravity” of the alleged crimes.

“For us, this is not a symbolic investigation,” Jovtis said. “We really want the perpetrators to go before an Argentine judge and be tried here.”

A separate Venezuelan case filed recently in Argentina targets ousted President Maduro, hard-line Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and other top officials still in power. An Argentine judge asked for the extradition of the defendants after Maduro’s seizure by the U.S. military.

Democracy deferred

This week Argentine President Javier Milei, a radical right-wing ideologue and President Donald Trump’s most loyal Latin American ally, joyously celebrated the capture of the leader he long lambasted as the ultimate political evil.

A staple on the global conservative speaking circuit, Milei is close to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and last October attending the ceremony in Norway that awarded her the Nobel Peace Prize.

Right after the news broke of the U.S. military intervention, Milei issued a triumphant statement calling for “everything to be set right and for the true president to take office” — referring to Edmundo González Urrutia, the candidate considered the legitimate winner of the 2024 election in which Maduro claimed victory.

Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno also recognized González as president.

But as Trump froze out Machado and endorsed Rodríguez, Milei’s administration changed its tune.

All mentions of democracy were scrubbed from official statements on Venezuela. In their Tuesday telephone call, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Argentine counterpart spoke only about “cooperation to confront narcoterrorism.”

The jolt of euphoria following news of Maduro’s capture last Saturday has rapidly worn off in Caracas, too, turning into a more familiar, nagging dread. Trump has shifted his focus to extracting Venezuela’s oil riches.

“Right now in Venezuela, everybody’s erasing their phones because (government-aligned paramilitaries) are checking to see if you’ve been tweeting or looking at anything anti-government,” said Ricardo Hausmann, a professor of the practice of international political economy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

“There is too much talk about oil and money, but for Venezuelans to do anything, they need rights.”

Thursday’s prisoner release, although welcome, compounded some concerns.

“This is my fear — that they release many people, the world gets distracted, everyone says ‘Venezuela is fixed,’ and the political prisoners, dissident soldiers, journalists and human rights defenders remain in prison,” said Luis Carlos Díaz, a prominent Venezuelan journalist who was briefly detained in 2019.

Trump has insisted that acting President Rodríguez play by Washington’s rules. But so far the administration has given Venezuelans no reason to believe it’s using its leverage to press for human rights.

“That’s why it’s essential that other countries keep judicial processes open for Venezuela,” Díaz said. “If we had to wait for the dictatorship to fall before seeking justice, many of us would die first.”

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Associated Press writer Sergio Farella contributed to this report.