Sergeant of the Argentine National Gendarmerie and activist Nahuel Gallo managed the direct delivery of a letter to Pope Leo XIV during the mass celebrated this Monday in Buenos Aires. The letter seeks to make visible to the Vatican the situation of civil and military political prisoners, as well as that of foreign citizens in judicial custody in Venezuela.
Although the organization’s operational restrictions prevented his access to the protocol meeting, Gallo ratified his commitment to the humanitarian cause through his account on X. He denounced the forced separation of the families of the detainees and urged international organizations to maintain pressure on the Venezuelan case.
“I was not able to see him personally. The organization did not take me into account and I was not able to access the meeting to hand-deliver the letter that I had prepared especially for him. I did not have that privilege, but it does not matter. I have faith that, in some way, these words will reach his hands. Today I am left with a reflection that the holy father left us: ‘Every family can become a seed of authentic renewal for this country’. His words made me think especially of so many families that today live separated by the confinement,” said Gallo.
Demand for freedom and fundamental guarantees
The Argentine gendarme highlighted that the background of his letter responds to a demand aimed at avoiding the oblivion of people deprived of liberty and preserving their constitutional guarantees without distinction of nationality.
“Holy Father, there are people who continue to wait for justice behind the walls of a prison. There are political prisoners and foreigners who need the world not to forget them. My letter sought to bring that reality closer to you, to tell you what I experienced and to convey the voice of those who still cannot tell their own story. Perhaps today I could not deliver it to you personally, but I will continue to raise my voice. Because human dignity has no nationality and freedom should not be a privilege,” he added.
Testimony of imprisonment in Venezuelan territory
In the letter addressed to the pontiff, Gallo presented his testimony after spending 448 days deprived of liberty in Venezuela, a period in which international organizations classified him as a political prisoner. The sergeant requested pastoral mediation from the Catholic Church to promote family reunion and peace.
“I would also like to share with you a concern that has accompanied me since I regained my freedom: the situation of the political prisoners who are still detained in Venezuela, many of them in inhumane conditions and far from their families. I am writing to you from my own experience. I am Nahuel Gallo, sergeant of the Argentine National Gendarmerie and I was deprived of my freedom in Venezuela for 448 days,” he explained.
Gallo concluded by reaffirming the continuity of his efforts: “My case became public knowledge like that of the Argentine gendarme kidnapped by the Nicolás Maduro regime. Today I am back in my country, but my commitment did not end with my release. I continue to raise my voice for those who continue to be detained, so that their stories do not remain silent.”
