December 6, 2025, Caracas / Buenos Aires – Total News Agency (TNA-Hoy) marks one year since the detention of Argentine National Gendarmerie First Corporal Nahuel Agustín Gallo in Venezuela, a move defined by Argentine diplomacy as an “arbitrary detention” and a “forced disappearance.” For his loved ones, it is a regime ploy to show a “proof of life” that actually seeks to cover up his imprisonment without guarantees. Gallo's wife, María Alexandra Gómez, granted interviews in recent days to denounce her husband's situation as a “forced disappearance” and a “crime against humanity.” The Peruvian-American Renzo Huamanchumo Castillo stated that he heard Gallo singing, describing the prison as an “hell”: sunless cells, torture, lack of hygiene, overcrowding, and psychological torture, conditions denounced by survivors as those of a “concentration camp.” The case has escalated internationally. Since December 8, 2024, his exact whereabouts remain uncertain, his family remains cut off from communication, and his name has resonated forcefully again following the statement of a former prisoner who claimed to have heard Gallo proudly singing the Argentine anthem from the penitentiary where he is being held. This reinforces the harshness of his situation and the international pressure on the Nicolás Maduro regime. According to the official Venezuelan version, Gallo was arrested on a border with Colombia while attempting to enter the country to visit his wife and son. He was charged with “alleged links to terrorist activities and espionage,” charges that his family and the Argentine government firmly reject. Since 2024, Caracas has only released one video showing Gallo in light blue clothing walking in an enclosed place, without audio, date, or verifiable context. In turn, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued statements demanding that Venezuela report Gallo's real whereabouts, guarantee his health, and allow contact with his family. One year after his detention, Gallo continues to be disappeared in fact. The Argentine Foreign Ministry presented a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “arbitrary detention and forced disappearance.” Repudiation requests are growing in Argentina and the international community, which warns about the systematic violation of human rights in Venezuelan prisons and sheds light on the fate of foreign citizens detained without guarantees. “My life has been paralyzed since December 8,” she said between tears. The testimonies emerging from Venezuela are chilling. One of the former prisoners at the Rodeo 1 penitentiary in Miranda declared that during his detention—alongside Gallo— they organized a symbolic act: they sang the anthems of their countries as a sign of dignity. According to her, she was never allowed a single call in 365 days, they received no official information about his status, and no Venezuelan lawyer or consulate provided him with assistance. For his family, the motto is clear: freedom for Nahuel, without conditions.
