Argentina harshly attacks the US over "the suitcase scandal"

[struggle4progress]

Source: El Universal

The brand-new goverment of Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner blamed the White House of forging a "formidable operation" to "unleash a crisis" among the governments of Latin America, as the US "hegemonic plans in the region" have failed.

Kirchner's chief of cabinet and one of her closest ministers, Alberto Fernández, made the harsh statements in an editorial entitled "Excuses and impunity," which was published in Argentinean daily newspaper La Nación, AFP reported.

"Losing control of energy resources in Venezuela and Bolivia, watching both Argentina and Brazil getting rid of the manipulation over their economies by multilateral lending bodies, having the feeling that their poor policies have been exposed and have failed to release" hostages in Colombia "explain the backward step of these hegemonic forces."

The reaction came following a criminal complaint filed in the United States. The investigation -which the Argentinean Government has described as manipulated by the White House- suggested that Venezuela allegedly made illegal contributions to fund Kirchner's electoral campaign ...


Read more: http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/12/17/en_pol_art_argentina-harshly-at_17A1264289.shtml

---

Venezuela says U.S. trying to divide Latin America
Published: Monday, December 17, 2007

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Monday the United States was trying to divide Latin America with accusations his government smuggled $800,000 to influence Argentina's recent election campaign.

Chavez .. denied that three Venezuelan businessmen arrested in Miami last week in connection with the case were agents for the Venezuelan government, as charged by Washington ...

"How sad would be the day that the North American empire in its need to dominate the world takes us to a war between brothers," he said, apparently referring to Colombia ...

"Now the empire is trying to generate a civil war in Bolivia," he said. "If they want to make one of us explode, several will explode ...

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=9a0a4603-979b-4eae-9b49-f90155e1e039&k=35380


Related LBN threads:

Argentine Leader Rebukes US Over Cash
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3101040

Venezuela accused in Argentina campaign probe
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3100668

[burrowowl]

1. K&R!

Also watched her on C-Span, great Lady!

[Peace Patriot]

2. I love how the new Bolivarian leaders are taking no shit from the Bush Junta!

For more on the Bushite "divide and conquer" strategy--a strategy that is NOT working--here are two important articles...

The first is a Reuters report (12/17/07) on a new accord between Bolivia and Brazil on natural gas development. Notice the reference to unnamed "diplomats in Brasilia" at the end of the article, on page 2. Then notice the Lula da Silva quote that follows. Can there be any doubt who these "diplomats in Brasilia" are?

"Diplomats in Brasilia have said Lula wants to win back Brazil's influence in Bolivia from Venezuela's Chavez, and he sought on Monday to draw a line under the spat over the energy nationalization.

"'In the end, Evo Morales and Lula didn't fight like some people wanted us to fight. We didn't become adversaries ... we became comrades,' Lula said."

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSN1741932120071217?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

----------------

The other is Donald Rumsfeld "PNAC" plan for South America, published as an op-ed in the WaPo on 12/1/07, in which he virtually declares war on Venezuela, and lays out his program for regaining global corporate predator control of the Andes oil and other resources (now in the control of democratic, leftist governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador). Theater II of the Corporate Resource War: South America.

"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html

Discussion here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x323889

But he will not succeed. And the reason is that the Bolivarians are onto these fuckers, and are fighting back--in the media, and in many concrete, far-thinking projects aimed at regional cooperation and independence , regional development (so long suppressed by the World Bank/IMF, the U.S. and global corporations), and regional control of finances (the Bank of the South) and trade (Mercosur, ALBA--South American trade groups). I am sure they are cooperating on intelligence as well, and have made agreements on military cooperation. They are also strongly tied together on the goal of social justice, a common theme of all the new leftist governments elected over the last half decade--in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Nicaragua.

Eat your heart out, Donald! You can still torture and slaughter people, and inflict more suffering, and sneak around with suitcases full of money, and hold your secret meetings with the torturers and thugs and assassins of the South American right, but you can but you cannot win this one. Because THIS. IS. WHAT. DEMOCRACY. LOOKS. LIKE!!!

[Judi Lynn]

7. Those mysterious "diplomats" they spoke with in Brasilia really get around, don't they?

They're ALWAYS on hand when a propagandist needs a bogus quote! No reason to attribute their quotes to anyone, as these "diplomats" are so shy they weep with embarrassment when too much attention is directed to them!

[David__77]

3. There are fewer puppets and flunkeys running things in Latin America.

It's good that most of the governments there are willing to assert a certain level of sovereignty these days. Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Venezuela are all leading the way through various means. Even Peru and Colombia will eventually join the trend.

[leftchick]

4. I bet the CIA is rolling in cash these last few years for these operations

I was thinking yesterday with 7 years of pretty much no oversite of any agency bushco** could push billions into CIA operations anywhere with ease. Who would know?

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Coming soon: why de Kirchner is a dictator!

I can't wait.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Just a matter of time, isn't it?

President Fernandez (Mrs. Kirchner) will also have the distinction of having been named the first WOMAN dictator in the Western Hemisphere! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Better get some of those NED guys on the next airplane south to start paying off all the opposition groups, just the way they always do for _Bush. Hey, opposition groups gotta eat, y'know!

Maybe he'll start bringing them up to Washington, D.C., on our hard earned tax dollars, and he'll entertain them in the Oval Office, just the way he did with Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado!




?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939847EC77F5F8D1CEDA290B3BB520B7DCA40A659CEC4C8CB6

[Judi Lynn]

8. Chavez and allies take swipe at US

Chavez and allies take swipe at US
(Reuters)

19 December 2007



MONTEVIDEO - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and two Latin American allies accused the United States on Tuesday of conspiring to undermine the region’s leftist governments.


The charge followed a diplomatic firestorm set off by claims from a US prosecutor that Venezuela attempted to smuggle $800,000 in a suitcase to the election campaign of Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Chavez, Fernandez and Bolivian President Evo Morales rebuked the United States in separate public comments at a meeting of the South American trade bloc Mercosur in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo.

Chavez accused Washington of meddling in Bolivian politics and seeking to destabilize the Morales’ leftist government, which faces calls for autonomy by several opposition-controlled provinces amid a dispute over constitutional reforms.

“I have to blame the empire. They are trying to sabotage a legitimate democratic process,” Chavez said, referring to the United States. “We have to warn the empire that if they try to topple that legitimate government ... it will cause an earthquake that will shake the Americas.”
(snip)

On Tuesday, Morales reiterated accusations that the US ambassador in La Paz was involved in a conspiracy to damage his government. “It would be good if the United States would advise its ambassador to practice diplomacy, not politics,” he said.
(snip)

‘Dirty operations’
Argentina’s Fernandez, who took office on Dec. 10, did not name the United States directly but suggested it was looking to influence the region through “dirty operations and dirty politics.”

“Let’s not be naive ... there are going to be many more ’interferences’ like those we’re experiencing now,” she said.
(snip)

Former President Kirchner said in a fiery speech earlier on Tuesday: “The US ambassador said relations with Argentina are good. But what they’re doing in Miami is shameful ... so relations are not good. Argentina isn’t a colony and you must respect us and the Argentine courts.”
(snip/)

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/December/theworld_December636.xml§ion=theworld&col=

[struggle4progress]

9. Diplomatic Row Between U.S., Argentina Looms Over Suitcase Money

December 18, 2007 9:30 p.m. EST

... Argentinean Chancellor Jorge Taiana summoned U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne to express the Argentine government's dissatisfaction with Washington's handling of the matter.

Taiana wants the U.S. to extradite businessman Guido Antonini Wilson, who was caught carrying the suitcase, so Argentina can investigate him. Guido is not accused of any crime in the U.S ...

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009491238

[struggle4progress]

10. Argentinean government rejects political use of "the suitcase scandal"

The Argentinean government Tuesday rebutted the intention to use for political purposes a fact it described as criminal, namely the scandal of the suitcase carrying USD 800,000 confiscated from Venezuelan-US citizen Guido Antonini, which on Tuesday resulted in Argentina filing a formal protest with the US Embassy, AFP reported ...

Last week, a US attorney claimed that a Venezuelan agent arrested in Miami on charges of conspiracy against the US laws stated in a tape recorded conversation that the contents of the suitcase was meant to fund the presidential electoral campaign of Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Last Monday, however, the attorney said the money was intended to fund "the presidential campaign," without mentioning any names.

The brand-new Argentinean President Tuesday said in Montevideo that "some people making politics in and outside our countries are the ones who stage filthy operations and politics in the region."

The attorney hearing the case in Argentina, María Luz Rivas Diez, Tuesday said they forwarded a petition to the US authorities to deliver the evidence demonstrating that the money was to fund the Argentinean presidential campaign.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/12/18/en_caval_art_argentinean-governme_18A1266039.shtml

[struggle4progress]

11. Argentine Prosecutor Seeks Money Laundering Charge for Antonini

By Eliana Raszewski

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- An Argentine prosecutor probing Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, who was caught in a Buenos Aires airport with $790,550 in undeclared cash, is seeking to charge the U.S. citizen with money laundering.

Antonini is currently in the U.S. and a cooperating witness in the investigation of four men who were arrested in Miami on charges of acting as unregistered agents of Venezuela. The men were allegedly trying to coerce Antonini to keep quiet about the source and destination of the money ...

Antonini, who hasn't been charged in Argentina, is considered a fugitive and wanted for questioning on possible charges of smuggling, Rivas Diez said. By adding money laundering to the possible charges, prosecutor Rivas Diez hopes to increase pressure on the U.S. to extradite Antonini, who was allegedly bringing the funds into Argentina for the election campaign of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Argentine customs seized the money Aug. 4 when Antonini arrived on a plane from Venezuela chartered by Argentina's state-owned energy company. Rivas Diez said the suitcase was full of $50 bills, which were bound by elastic bands ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=adWCR2qXGUOo&refer=latin_america

[Judi Lynn]

12. It is odd, isn't it that Bush is keeping the guy who did it right here, while blaming the other men?

Claiming they coerced him into taking it into Argentina by threatening his family? Really!

If he did it, he should be in Argentina, talking to them, not having _Bush guard him here, claiming it's for his own protection that he can't go anywhere! How crooked can a President be?

One of the articles out now says that the governor of the state where the three Venezuelans live, whose first name is Jhonney, indicates the men are not connected to the Venezuelan government in any way whatsoever.

Argentina needs to keep up the pressure on getting that American Antonini extradited. It would be a CRIME to let the _Bush administration get away with this.

[struggle4progress]

13. Me keep tryin t'be cynical and paranoid enuf t'expect dis kinda thing from dese guys