Argentina's Gimenez and Aguilera Freed After Month-Long Detention in Libya, Arrive in Istanbul

On 24 May 2026, Argentine citizens María Paula Giménez and Lucas Ezequiel Aguilera were detained near Sirte in eastern Libya while traveling with the Global Sumud Maghreb humanitarian convoy that aims to deliver aid to Gaza. The convoy, which began in Argentina on 5 May, had crossed Mauritania and entered Libya as part of an overland route toward the Gaza Strip.

After about a month of confinement, Argentine Deputy Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno announced that the two activists were expelled from eastern Libya (Benghazi) and taken to Istanbul, Turkey, where they are now safe. Their release was secured through coordinated diplomatic actions by the Argentine foreign ministry, the Argentine consulate in Tunisia, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Quirno posted on X: "La Cancillería Argentina informa que hoy por la mañana fueron expulsados de Libia del Este (Bengasi) los dos ciudadanos argentinos…"