Venezuela prosecutor to open probe over leaked recording

[Zorro]

Venezuela's prosecutor's office said on Thursday it would open an investigation into in a recording the opposition says features a top government ally accusing the deputy head of the ruling Socialist Party of corruption and conspiring against the new president.

Opposition deputies on Monday broadcast the recording of a conversation they said was between powerful state television commentator Mario Silva and a Cuban intelligence agent and later requested an investigation of it.

The man identified as Silva in the recording accused Diosdado Cabello, Congress chief and vice president of the ruling Socialist Party, of conspiring against President Nicolas Maduro and of illegally appropriating dollars through the country's currency control system.

"I have requested that an investigation be opened over the alleged recording of Mario Silva," chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega said via her Twitter account.

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-prosecutor-open-probe-over-leaked-recording-025316423.html

[naaman fletcher]

1. The prosecutor

Will probably just look into who recorded it to try to punish him.

[Zorro]

2. I wonder what law has been broken

Defaming the government is as good a charge as any, I suppose, although Silva allegedly was the one that made the derogatory statements.

There certainly have been a number of surreptitious opposition recordings that I have not heard having been investigated.

[Socialistlemur]

5. Potential legal indictments arising from the Mario Silva recording

I tend to look at these cases from a legal standpoint, and it seems to me this recording is loaded with damaging material. First we have the recording itself. It's referred to as a report from Mr Silva, a government employee, to a Mr Palacios, a Cuban national and an officer in its intelligence agency. If this is confirmed to be the case, Mr Silva can be considered to be an informant working for a foreign power. Then there's the allegations of fraud and corruption, which point the finger at a man named Cabello. The investigation should proceed to see if this man is guilty or not. There are other items I read in El Pais which turned my hair. For example Mr Silva confesses to having killed somebody. And there are hints about a potential plan to carry out a coup de etat by military factions associated with Mr Cabello. I also found a very interesting comment by Silva referring to what he felt was a failure of the electoral system. He said he thought the electronic voting machines had been hacked by the opposition and this was the reason for the closeness of the vote. This is going to be a very fruitful investigation leading to many arrests if the tape is indeed Mario Silva's. but we have to consider whether this may not be a plant by the Cuban intelligence services to knock off opposition to Mr Maduro within the chavista ranks. I understand Maduro and Cabello are deadly enemies and this tape sure makes Cabello look like a gangster. Maduro comes off as a fairly dumb character but he's not shown to have done anything illegal.

[joshcryer]

3. But what about the political spying on the opposition?

That's OK?

[Zorro]

4. Of course

Especially if it's the government that does it.