Earlier this week, Maduro claimed that Rodriguez was "thrown to the floor" by an officer of the Argentine Foreign Ministry’s security service when she tried to get into a Mercosur meeting in Buenos Aires.
Rodriguez arrived in the Argentinian capital despite the fact that she had not been invited to take part in the Wednesday meeting over Venezuela’s suspension from the Latin American regional economic bloc.
Argentina’s Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra announced after the meeting that her country had assumed the rotating presidency of Mercosur.
Mercosur presidency for the second half of 2016 was supposed to be transferred to Venezuela, after Uruguay officially ended its chairmanship in July. However, there have been concerns over growing discord in Venezuela amid a political standoff between Maduro and the opposition-dominated parliament.
Malcorra announced earlier this month that Argentina would preside over Mercosur in the first half of next year, and that there would be no traditional presidential summit.
Venezuela was officially notified of having its membership in Mercosur suspended earlier in December.
Earlier this year, Maduro accused Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay of uniting against Caracas on the Mercosur presidency transfer issue.
