[NYTr] Argentina's New President Blasts US "Garbage" Propaganda and Political Meddling

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Remember the case last August of the cash-stuffed suitcase?  
The US has decided to use it against Venezuela and Argentina, arresting
four who they say were acting as agent of a foreign government --
Venezuela -- and claiming it was an "illegal contribution" to be used
in the Argentine elections. (Pot, kettle, black.)

If so, why did the Argentine authorities arrest the dude who was
carrying the suitcase-- one of the Venezuelan gusanos in Miami who
holds dual US-Venezuelan citizenship who lives in Miami? And why does
the US care enough to arrest 3 Venezuelans and a Uruguayan and charge
them with being agents of a foreign power? Argentina asked for his
extradition last August when he was first accused of breaking
Argentine law.  Naturally, he wasn't extradited.  He was needed for
the "investigation" by the US. Your tax dollars at work, yanquis.
It all sounds like an elaborate covert op, a honey-trap of sorts that 
is only now being sprung. The US, IMF and World Bank were not at all
pleased to have lost Argentina (along with most of the rest of Latin
America), along with Argentina's last debt.

At first when the story broke, the bagman was called a "Venezuelan
businessman," but that cover story didn't last for more than a day
before it was discovered that he is actually a "Miami man," part of
the vast crowd of pro-US mafia types who use, and are used by, the US
government in Florida.  In this case, the "businessman" who deals in
oil and arms (naturally) hasn't been charged at all by the US. It's
obvious the whole "scandal" was a set-up by the US, especially since
Kirchner also sought an apology from Venezuela at the time. It's now
clear why. Venezuela was never involved.

SEE Previous coverage here: http://tinyurl.com/25qc8o

Now the US has enlisted the aid of Michael Shifter, a notorious
anti-Cuba, anti-Venezuela propagandist with the "Inter-American
Dialogue" to call the US charges a "smoking gun" that Hugo Chavez has
secretly been manipulating elections all over Latin America. If so, one
wonders why he didn't use a little of that kind of cash to manipulate
his own referendum on December 2, which he lost by a hair and could
have won handily if there had been a heavier voter turnout.

Both Argentina and Venezuela have blasted the US for this latest bit of
drama and "dirty trickery," conducted for months and only brought to
fruition two days after Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's inauguration.
The Venezuelans have called it "propagandistic trash," and Argentina's
President pronounced it "garbage."

Looks like the Bush regime has finally met a dynasty it doesn't like
(the new president is the wife of the outgoing president, Néstor
Kirchner). - NY Transfer]

                            ***

"Dirty Trick Aimed at Smearing Fernandez"

Reuters via The National Post (Canada) - Dec 14, 2007
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1ee783d2-caf1-44c0-b888-3b51718dbe16&k=45196

Argentina's Fernandez calls U.S. cash probe "garbage"

by Cesar Illiano, Reuters 

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's new President Cristina Fernandez
de Kirchner attacked U.S. foreign policy on Thursday and said American
claims that Venezuela smuggled $800,000 into Argentina to fund her
election campaign were "garbage."

Three Venezuelans and a Uruguayan were arrested in Miami earlier this
week on charges of covering up a scandal that began in August when a
Venezuelan-American businessman tried to enter Argentina with a
suitcase full of undeclared cash.

U.S. prosecutors say the suspects represented the anti-U.S. government
of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and the money was to help finance
Fernandez's campaign for the October 28 presidential election.

Fernandez, who easily won the vote, quickly hit back.

"This president may be a woman, but we're not going to allow them to
pressure us," Fernandez said on Thursday in a thinly veiled reference
to the United States.

"This shows how others view international politics and the type of
relationship they want to have with other countries. More than friends,
they want countries that work for them."

Fernandez, a leftist former senator and first lady, took office as
president on Monday, replacing her husband Nestor Kirchner in a rare
transfer of power between spouses.

Argentine customs agents seized the suitcase of undeclared cash in
August by but they let the businessman carrying it, Guido Antonini,
leave the country without charging him.

An FBI affidavit said Venezuelan agents met Antonini, a U.S. and
Venezuelan citizen, when he returned home to Florida and pressured him
to conceal Caracas's role in the scandal.

'DIRTY TRICK'

Argentina's justice ministry earlier on Thursday called the allegations
a "dirty trick" aimed at "smearing" Fernandez.

Chavez's government also denounced the arrests as a U.S. conspiracy to
damage Venezuela's relations with Argentina.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the
arrests in Miami were not politically motivated.

"This is not an issue of U.S.-Argentine relations. This is a matter of
U.S. law enforcement enforcing U.S. laws on U.S. soil," he said.

Venezuela and Argentina have cultivated close ties in recent years with
Chavez's oil-rich government investing heavily in Argentine government
bonds, and Fernandez is widely expected to keep Argentina in the bloc
of left-wing governments suspicious of U.S. policies in Latin America.

The men arrested in Miami were charged with acting as agents of
Venezuela's government and failing to register themselves as such. They
denied the charges in federal court on Wednesday but could face 10
years in prison if found guilty.

A fifth person was also charged but remained at large.

Antonini was not charged in the case. He carried the money on a jet
chartered by Argentina's government to take Argentine and Venezuelan
officials from Caracas to Buenos Aires.

Argentina has sought an international arrest warrant for Antonini. U.S.
officials are still processing the request.

When the scandal broke, Argentine officials called on Chavez to
apologize for the incident, but he never did.

(Writing by Hilary Burke; Editing by Kevin Gray and Kieran Murray)


                             ***

The New York Times - Dec 14, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/world/americas/14argentina.html

Argentine Leader Faults U.S. on Inquiry

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s new president, Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner, lashed out at the United States on Thursday for meddling in
Latin American affairs after American prosecutors in Miami alleged that
a suitcase stuffed with $800,000 was intended to be a secret
contribution to her campaign.

“There is some garbage in international politics that holds back
development and seriousness in international relationships,” Mrs.
Kirchner said from the presidential palace here.

On Wednesday, just two days after Mrs. Kirchner was sworn in as
Argentina’s first elected female president, American officials arrested
three Venezuelans and one Uruguayan on charges of acting and conspiring
to act as agents of a foreign government within the United States,
without prior notification to the attorney general.

According to the American criminal complaint, the four individuals, and
a fifth who is still being sought, were acting on behalf of
high-ranking officials in the government of President Hugo Chávez of
Venezuela, which an assistant United States attorney says was seeking
to deliver the money to Mrs. Kirchner’s campaign in August, two months
before the Oct. 28 election.

The complaint, which was filed in federal court in Miami, also said the
men had plotted to cover up the intent behind the delivery of the cash.

Mrs. Kirchner criticized the complaint while stressing the importance
of the relationship between Argentina and Mr. Chávez’s government.

“This president may be a woman, but she’s not going to allow herself to
be pressured,” Mrs. Kirchner said in a televised speech. She said she
would “continue affirming our friendship with all Latin American
countries and also with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”

The charges brought by American prosecutors alleging Venezuela’s
involvement have buttressed suspicions among some in Latin America that
Mr. Chávez has been trying to use his country’s oil wealth to influence
presidential campaigns in the region clandestinely.

In Argentina, the case has raised concerns about the tightening bond
between the Kirchner government and Mr. Chávez, who has pushed for
energy accords with Argentina and to refinance billions of dollars of
Argentina’s debt.

The case first came to light on Aug. 4, when Guido Alejandro Antonini
Wilson, who holds American and Venezuelan citizenship and lives in
south Florida, was stopped by Argentine officials after arriving in
Buenos Aires with a cash-stuffed suitcase via a chartered flight from
Caracas, Venezuela.

Mr. Antonini has not been charged in the case. Alicia Valle, special
counsel to the United States attorney in Miami, would not comment on
whether Mr. Antonini was cooperating with investigators.

Since prosecutors filed their criminal complaint on Wednesday, the case
has exploded in the Argentine and Venezuelan press. The Buenos Aires
daily La Nación devoted seven pages of articles to the case. In
Venezuela, “Antoninigate” drew cries for more investigations.

On Thursday, aides to Mrs. Kirchner sought to redirect the focus from
charges that foreigners were seeking to finance her campaign secretly,
to possible motivations for the American investigation. Justice
Minister Anibal Fernández called the American case “an enormous dirty
trick” and a “reprisal” for the country’s ties with Mr. Chávez.

The Venezuelan information minister, William Lara, denied any link
between the money and his government, saying the four men who were
arrested were not its agents and calling the charges “U.S.
propagandistic trash,” The Associated Press reported.

It is not against Argentine law for foreigners to contribute to a
presidential campaign, but it is illegal to do so secretly, Argentine
officials said. It also is illegal to bring undeclared cash into the
country, the officials said.

The American complaint alleges that on Aug. 23, less than three weeks
after the aborted delivery in Buenos Aires, Mr. Antonini met with three
of the charged suspects in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It was there that
Franklin Durán, one of the suspects, told him that the intended
recipient of the $800,000 was Mrs. Kirchner’s campaign.

According to prosecutors, Carlos Kauffmann, another suspect, warned Mr.
Antonini that “his future actions” might put the life of his children
“at risk.” According to the complaint, Moisés Maionica, another
suspect, sought to reassure Mr. Antonini at that meeting that
Venezuela’s national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, would cover
any costs he incurred from the seizure of the suitcase in Buenos Aires.

At another meeting four days later in Fort Lauderdale, Mr. Durán told
Mr. Antonini “in substance” that the disclosure of the intended
recipient of the cash could result in the loss of the election by the
recipient.

The money seizure in August led Néstor Kirchner, the president at the
time, to fire an Argentine official for allowing Mr. Antonini to carry
the cash aboard the flight, which had been chartered by the Argentine
national oil company. On board were three Argentine officials and four
employees of Petróleos de Venezuela. The company’s top manager in
Argentina also stepped down.

[Daniel Cancel contributed reporting from Caracas, Venezuela.]

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

                               ***

"Ham-Handed Effort" to Damage Argentine-Venezuelan relations

The Washington Post via SF Chronicle - Dec 14, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/14/MNU9TU58P.DTL

Argentine president denies charges

U.S. officials say Venezuela's Chavez funneled cash to her campaign to
gain influence

by Monte Reel and Juan Forero, Washington Post

(12-14) 04:00 PST Lima, Peru --Argentina's new president berated the
United States Thursday for alleging that the government of Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez had tried to illegally funnel cash to her recent
presidential campaign, labeling the accusations garbage.

U.S. officials, though, said four men who were charged in Miami in
connection with the case - and who allegedly conspired to cover up the
truth - had close ties to the Venezuelan administration.

U.S. prosecutors Wednesday said they had evidence that a suitcase
containing nearly $800,000 seized by Argentine customs officials in
August came from the Chavez administration and was destined for the
campaign of Cristina Fernandez, who was sworn in Monday as Argentina's
president.

Fernandez, elected by a wide margin in October, responded Thursday with
some accusations of her own: The United States manufactured the
scandal, she said, to punish her for maintaining friendly relations
with the vocally anti-American Chavez.

Venezuela's influence in Latin America has long troubled U.S.
officials, who have accused Chavez of using oil profits to finance
allies throughout the region. This week's allegations marked the first
time the United States has tried to prove it.

A senior U.S. official knowledgeable about the investigation said the
case has shed light on how the Venezuelan government has relied on
businessmen close to Chavez's government to channel money without being
detected. Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, an affluent businessman in
the oil industry and in arms sales, sectors in which the Venezuelan
government spends handsomely, was detained Aug. 4 after landing at a
Buenos Aires airport with the money-packed suitcase.

"The modus operandi is the Venezuelan government reaches out to
individuals like Antonini Wilson, allowing him to make a lot of money
with contracts," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because of the delicate nature of the subject. "And the cost is, when
they want him to move money, he moves it, and he moves it to whoever
they ask him to deliver it to."

Less than two weeks after the money was seized - sparking rumors of a
government scandal - a group of Venezuelans traveled to Miami to
pressure Antonini to conceal the truth about the cash, according to the
criminal complaint filed in Miami. The men told Antonini that Argentine
and Venezuelan authorities would pursue him if he denied the funds were
his, and that his children could be harmed. Antonini, who cooperated in
the investigation leading to the arrests, holds U.S. and Venezuelan
passports and lives in the Miami area.

Among those who prosecutors say pressured Antonini were Carlos
Kauffmann and Franklin Duran. Duran is the owner of the arms importer
Rubial y Duran, which has provided weapons for police agencies in
Venezuela. Duran and Kauffmann are also executives in Industrias
Venoco, a petrochemical and oil services company with close ties to the
Venezuelan state oil behemoth, Petroleos de Venezuela.

An attorney for the men told the Associated Press that his clients were
innocent. According to U.S. officials, the Venezuelans told Antonini
that Fernandez could lose the election if the truth came out. And they
tried to soothe him by explaining that Petroleos de Venezuela would pay
for any expenses he might incur for the seizure of the cash.

U.S. officials said it has been a priority for Venezuela's government
to ensure that the source of cash sent to other countries never be
discovered. "The Venezuelans decided that they would need to create
offline capabilities to move money to people they support, and it had
to be done in ways that could not be traced to the government," the
senior official said.

More than perhaps any other country in the region, Argentina has tried
to balance friendly ties with both the United States and Venezuela,
which has helped the country recover from its 2001 financial crisis by
buying billions of dollars worth of Argentine bonds. During her
campaign, Fernandez emphasized the importance of strengthening the
country's foreign relations, including those with the United States.

On Thursday, discussing the burgeoning controversy, she sided squarely
with Venezuela.

"This president might be a woman, but she won't let herself be
pressured," she said, drawing cheers from a crowd gathered for an event
at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires. "I'm going to continue to
strengthen relations with all friendly Latin American nations,
including the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."

In a thinly veiled reference to the United States, Fernandez also
complained that some countries wanted others subordinated to them. It
was an anti-imperialist note that resonates in many corners of Latin
America, not just Venezuela.

Riordan Roett, an expert on Argentina at Johns Hopkins University, said
the case would worsen already cool relations between the Bush
administration and Argentina. Though he is critical of some of the
Argentine government's economic policies, Roett said the United States
could have handled the case more delicately.

"It was ham-handed," he said. "We have to learn how to deal with Latin
America with these kinds of incidents. Someone should have been
sensitive to the fact that there's a new administration in Argentina
and you want to build new bridges."

                                  ***

BBC - Dec 14, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7143043.stm


Kirchner firmly denies illegal funding

Argentina's new president has firmly denied allegations by US
prosecutors that Venezuela tried to illegally influence her election
campaign.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the charges were a "trashing
operation" and she would let no-one pressure her.

Her comments came hours after four South Americans were charged in
Miami with trying to cover up the scandal.

It began with the confiscation in Argentina in August of a briefcase
containing $800,000 (£392,000).

The US authorities said their investigation demonstrated that the money
was intended for Ms Fernandez's presidential campaign.

Venezuela has also rejected the accusations as a "fabricated scandal".

Correspondents say the affair is a political test for Ms Fernandez, who
was sworn in as president on Monday.

'Undeclared agents'

In a speech in the capital Buenos Aires, President Fernandez said she
remained undeterred in her desire to deepen relations with other Latin
American countries and Venezuela in particular.

"This way of trying to operate in regional politics will not be
successful," she said.

"They will not achieve results. This president may be a woman, but she
will not allow anyone to pressure her."

Though she did not mention the US by name, correspondents say she was
clearly referring to Washington.

The criminal complaint against the four men - three Venezuelans and a
Uruguayan - said that "neither the true source nor the intended
recipient of those cash funds had been disclosed".

But Assistant US Attorney Thomas Mulvihill said on Wednesday that an
FBI recording showed that the money was destined for Ms Fernandez's
campaign.

She was elected in October to take over the presidency from her husband
Nestor.

Prosecutors say the defendants were undeclared agents and held meetings
in Florida with a Venezuelan-American businessman, Guido Antonini
Wilson, in an attempt to pressure him to hide the source of the money
and its destination.

Mr Antonini Wilson was part of a delegation flown in to Buenos Aires by
the Argentine government on a private jet in August.

Customs officials discovered the cash in his suitcase, and issued an
extradition warrant when he fled to the US.

The businessman is not accused of any crime by the American
prosecutors. 

                            ***

The New York Times - Dec 13, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/world/americas/13argentina.html

U.S. Links Smuggled Cash to Venezuela

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

BUENOS AIRES - A Miami man who brought $800,000 in a suitcase into
Argentina was trying to deliver a campaign contribution from the
Venezuelan government to the Argentine presidential candidate Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner, American prosecutors said Wednesday.

Assistant United States Attorney Thomas J. Mulvihill said in court
Wednesday that conversations recorded by the F.B.I. indicate that Mrs.
Kirchner, who won the election and was sworn in on Monday here as
Argentina’s president, was the intended recipient of the money, said
Alicia Valle, special counsel to the U.S. Attorney in Miami.

The United States attorney’s office in Miami charged five men with
acting and conspiring to act as agents of the Venezuelan government
within the United States, without having notified the attorney general,
in a scheme it said involved the highest levels of President Hugo
Chávez’s government. According to prosecutors, Venezuelan agents tried
to cover up the purpose of the cash and intimidated a witness in the
case.

"The complaint filed today outlines an alleged plot by agents of the
Venezuelan government to manipulate an American citizen in Miami in an
effort to keep the lid on a burgeoning international scandal," Kenneth
L. Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security, said in
a statement.

The Miami man, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, was stopped in Buenos
Aires on Aug. 4 with the cash-stuffed suitcase. The complaint charges
that three Venezuelans and a Uruguayan, acting on behalf of Venezuelan
officials, then sought his help in covering up the source of the cash,
its destination and the role of the Venezuelan government.

"This could be the smoking gun that Chávez has been actively financing
campaigns in Latin America," said Michael Shifter, vice president for
policy at the Inter-American Dialogue, a political consultancy in
Washington. During these meetings the defendants told Mr. Antonini, who
is an American citizen, that various high-ranking Venezuelan government
officials, including members of the office of the vice-president,
members of the intelligence services and a high-ranking official from
the Justice ministry, were aware of the matter.

The defendants told Mr. Antonini that the funds had been destined for
the campaign of a candidate in the Argentine presidential election of
Oct. 28. Charged were Moisés Maionica, 36; Antonio José Canchica Gómez,
37; Rodolfo Edgardo Wanseele Paciello, 40; Franklin Durán, 40; and
Carlos Kauffmann, 35. All have been arrested, except for Mr. Canchica
Gómez, who remains at large, the U.S. attorney's office said. If
convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison
and a $250,000 fine.

Venezuelan officials in Caracas had no comment on the charges. Marcos
Lohlé, a spokesman for the Argentine Foreign Ministry, also declined to
comment.

The case began on Aug. 4, when Mr. Antonini, 46, was stopped in Buenos
Aires with the cash-stuffed suitcase by an airport customs official
after arriving from Caracas on a private plane chartered by the
Argentine government’s national energy company. Seven others were on
board, including four executives of Venezuela’s state oil company and
three Argentina officials.

The discovery of the suitcase briefly chilled relations between
Argentina and Venezuela, which had grown closer through a series of
energy accords and through Mr. Chávez’s refinancing of billions in
Argentine debt. The Argentine president at the time, Nestor Kirchner,
demanded answers from the Venezuelan government. Within days, he
accepted the resignation of Claudio Uberti, the Argentine official who
had offered Mr. Antonini a seat on the plane. [Which doesn't fit at all
with the tale that the Kirchners were plotting to accept secret cash
from Hugo Chavez, but never mind.]

María Luz Rivas Diez, the Argentine attorney general, said at the time
that Mr. Antonini had made 12 trips to Argentina in the past year, some
for less than a day.

The Argentine government said it had started its own probe, and
Venezuela’s national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, said it would
also investigate the mysterious trip. No results of either probe have
been announced.

Pedro Carreño, Venezuelan’s justice minister, said in August that the
cash found on Mr. Antonini was a personal matter. "If there exists a
personal object," Mr. Carreno said, "it is a suitcase."

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company