It sort of gets tiring writing about Venezuela. Everything
has become so bizarre, a parody of a country and life. Yesterday it was our
parody of Maxwell Smart and the Government's accusations of Guido Antonini
being a CIA/FBI agent. Today, it is the defense calling on Duran’s buddy,
which seems like calling Al Capone's second in command to vouch for him in
Court. The whole thing is sort of like watching the debate or the parody of the
debate of a certain vice-presidential candidate, after a while you can't
distinguish between the real thing and the parody.
You see, Duran's defense called on his buddy to testify that
In Venezuela having an intelligence identity card is normal. That to get ahead
you have to use influences. At least that was his view of the world. According
to the view of the world of this friend of Duran, who owns the duty free stores
at the country's airports (a bad signal in itself, Maiquetia airport has been remodelled almost every year of the last 30):
"To do deals with the Government you need contacts.. a good part
of businessman and the Venezuelan population have civilian intelligence and National
Guard identifications as a way of protecting yourself, among other reasons"
He claims to have had them since 1994, which somehow in his
ethical mind makes it ok. You know, once a thief always a thief or something
like that in this guy's very peculiar view of the world.
And to prove his bona fide credentials, he testified that
Duran asked him to contact the Tax Superintendent to see if he could provide
the appropriate documents to justify the cash in the suitcase.
Wait! I am confused! I thought this was all CIA? Or was it
FBI? You mean the cash was real?
I guess the only thing missing was for this witness, whose
best credential was his friendship with Duran and his funny dealings with the
Venezuelan Government, to say that he also carried suitcases full of cash
around.
He may have, but he could not admit it, he is a US citizen
after all.
Which proves that the robolution is fairly open and an equal
opportunity corrupter. Everyone no matter what your nationality or political
beliefs can saner and participate.
Jeez , I wish I had the time to put in a poll like Daniel
and Quico and ask my readers a few questions:
---How many Venezuelan Intelligence Police credentials have
you had in your life?
---How many National Guard credentials do you currently own?
---In your experience is it worth having them?
---How many of you know Duran, Kauffmann or Antonini?
---How many of you know a Minister, Vice-Minister, Tax
Superintendent or major Government official?
---How many of you need a credential and/or contact to make
a living in Venezuela.
---Do you consider yourself corrupt, a little corrupt or
honest?
---Have you ever had lunch with Chavez?
Who knows, you may still have time for an all expenses paid
trip to Miami courtesy of Duran's defense and you don't know it! And you get
your travel dollars at the official rate of exchange!
Kudos to Mr. Antonini, who by now must be considered to be like Maxwell
Smart, Super Agent 86 by either of those agencies. Kudos, because this car
mechanic who only ten years ago was toiling in the car repair shops of the town
of La Victoria, Aragua State, managed thanks to his demonstrated abilities to
be hired by the FBI and have his membership to the CIA accepted, which I
imagine requires some form of dispensation from the US Attorney General or even
the top boss himself. Because after all, the FBI can only work in the US and
the CIA only outside that country, so that Antonini must have some sort of very special
treatment.
And he clearly deserves it due to his accomplishments in his short life
as an agent/super spy. In particular, I imagine that given the repeated
failures of the CIA all over the world, Super Agent Antonini is truly special.
He has not only succeeded in his missions, but he also managed to become a
millionaire in the process, trap the Venezuelan and Argentinean Government and
their respective oil companies and screw his former friends.
And all of that single-handedly and covertly.
In the early stage of his career, Antonini had to get close to his
old friend Franklin Duran as a way of reaching Carlos Kauffmann and partner with
them to get rich enough to be independently wealthy. He was quite successful at
this, partnering with them in a number of deals selling weapons and security
systems to Venezuelan companies as well as advising them with their
petrochemical company Venoco, even if he knew nothing about that business. But
much like Super Agent 86 and Jack Bauer of "24", Antonini can get into Google
and learn the ropes quite fast for any business he so desires. In fact, in his last and fateful trip, Antonini supposedly was invited not only to carry the suitcase, but also to discuss Chavez' brainchild the "Gasoducto del Sur", a pipeline to carry non-existent Venezuelan natural gas to Argentina.
Antonini worked on this in parallel with developing Government connections. He
befriended the Governor of Cojedes State, members of the Board of PDVSA, Uruguayan
Government officials and Argentinean Government officials. To his surprise,
this actually led to more money. Thanks to the Governor of Cojedes, who he
wanted to use only politically, he got in the middle of a project by which
Venezuela would build houses in Uruguay. No houses were ever built, after all what does the Chavez Government kinow about the subject, but now
Duran accuses him of taking his half of a US$ 23 million take on their commission
on this project.
At this point, came Antonini's most daring gamble, suggesting, I imagine, in casual
conversation that they begin carrying suitcases full of cash to help their
political buddies all over South America. Given that he was US citizen, if
caught, that would give him the opening to turn himself in and then tape his
buddies, politicians and partners spewing out their corrupt schemes. Heck, he
could even tangle up Chavez himself, who he had lunch with a couple of times,
even if he wasn't on the same table. A daring suggestion, but Agent 86 managed to pull it through.
Antonini began carrying suitcases around full of cash, but given the lax
custom procedures in Latin America, he would never get caught. Moreover, they would always take
him in chartered jets hired by PDVSA, the Venezuelan Government and foreign Governments,
so that they would always go in through the VIP gate, where nobody would check
the suitcases. A few times, he even handed over the suitcase to be checked, but
he was waved through with that gesture so common in Latin America which clearly
says "Please don't bother me and make me work, just move forward". In each trip, Antonini would
slip his hand in the suitcase and grab a few thousand bucks for incidental
expenses.
A new plan had to be implemented. They talked to Hugh Hefner and he
offered an Argentinean
customs agent that was not so bad looking a contract to appear in that
country's Playboy magazine, in exchange for checking Antonini's suitcase.
Then came that fateful day and the rest is history. The suitcase of
Super agent Antonini was opened by Ms. Telpuk and the US$ 800,000 in cash was found.
Just to make it look even worse, he left the half of the money that was his by
law at customs. He even hung around for a couple of days to make it look good
and even went to a cocktail party at the Presidential palace in Buenos Aires, at
which Chavez was present. The food was good and the Malbec was excellent, even
if he always drank Scotch as part of his cover with the robolutionaries.
He then flew to the US where the tape recorders were ready. He asked for help and millions,
and the robolution was willing to deliver. What was one more suitcase? One more
dirty operation? Afew more million in cash? He was after all, one of them, one more corrupt operator and robolutionary that
needed to be financed and protected.
What they did not realize is that he was Guido Antonini. Super Agent 86,
an FBI agent and rank and file member of the CIA. He entrapped them all, friends and foe, Vice-Presidents, Heads of of not so Intelligence Offices and the like. He wrote to Chavez and got a response! Even Minsiter Al Aissami called his buddies!
He was in the end, the best CIA operator of the last few decades. He did all of this alone. Not bad for a car mechanic from La Victoria.
Kudos
to him, kudos to "Maxwell" Antonini, Super Agent 86!
Next stop for Super Agent 86? It's unclear, too many problems in the world and he
could fix them all: Iran, Russia, Iraq or even Pakistan.
Teodoro Petkoff nails it on the head on the inaction by Venezuela's Prosecutor on the accusations against high Government officials in the Miami trial
"Socialist Impunity" by Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual
For the gringos the trial in Miami has one purpose: to demonstrate that those on trial violated US laws by acting as agents of a foreign Government, without registering to that effect in front of the authorities of that country. If they can demonstrate that and they condemn them it will not be for being corrupt (in Venezuela) or for money laundering (in Argentina) but for violating US laws. That they are corrupt is not their problem, but to demonstrate that they are agents of a Foreign Government-in this case, that of Chacumbele-the Prosecutor has to demonstrate the existence of strong links between those on trial and the high officials of Chacumbele's Government. And those links, as we all know and we are seeing very clearly, are not very saintly. Thus, if to the gringos this aspect is not of their interest it is of overwhelming interest to us Venezuelans what the trial is evidencing on matters of highflying corruption. Here the Prosecutor's office has ordered the capture of Antonini and also of Kauffmann and Maionica and they have ordered the freeze of the assets of Kauffmann and Maionica. All a bluff. The Prosecutor knows that these gentlemen will not come back to Venezuela for a while. On the other hand, this small reporter has to inquire, the Prosecutor's office has nothing to ask General Rangel Silva, or to Rafael Ramirez, or to Jorge Rodriguez, or to Tarek Al Aissami and the other personalities that have floated in the interrogations of the singing boys of Miami? Isn't there enough evidence that they were no only "mailmen" of people very high up in the Government, who they provided services like that of bringing some change to the friends in Argentina, in exchange for influence and access to the dirty deals in PDVSA? Isn't it clear by now that the high capos of the officialist Cosa Nostra, surely on orders from the Godfather, tried to have Antonini's partners convince him not to talk in exchange for protection? We don't care if the singing boys violated US laws, but we are supremely worried that they have violated ours and that to their accomplices, who are here and not in Miami, Venezuelan Justice guarantees them total "socialist" impunity.
It was the time for Carlos Kauffman to testify day before yesterday
and yesterday and Kauffman, the former partner of Duran in all his business
dealings, did not disappoint with his disclosers.
First he said that the whole thing was quite simple, he
and Duran we sought to "fix" the problem of Antonini and the suitcase because
of their ties.
According
to Kauffmann he talked directly to then Vice-President Jorge Rodriguez who
told him that he knew everything and that PDVSA was involved in the case. He
ratified the money was for the campaign of Cristina Kirchner.
Kauffmann said that he and Duran offered
to help on the cover-up and their reward would be "new contacts, more money
and more power..It was going to be beneficial to us". Jeez, the robolution
can be so generous, no?
Kauffmann revealed that the whole cover up began on August
30 2007, when he met with the Head of Venezuela's Intelligence Police, General
Henry Rangel. Rangel has been accused by the US Government of cooperating with
the FARC's drug trafficking
According to Kauffman, they met in Rangel's office in the presence
of Moises Maionicaand they
told Rangel they would help solve the scandal and he could count on them. He
said they were concerned because the name of Antonini was associated with them
and they were afraid their business dealings would be affected by the maletagate
case.
The Prosecution also introduced the Venezuelan Naval
Intelligence credential that was found on Duran when he was detained. According
to local paper El Nacional the credential is not honorific and it is quite real
and in the end it may be the strongest evidence of the prosecution, after all,
the main accusation against Duran and buddies is that they were Government
agents.
While much
was made of the "differences" between Antonini's version and that of the
customs agent that found the suitcase, the discrepancy is as to why Antonini
was carrying the suitcase. Antonini has claimed that he was helping someone in
carrying the suitcase, while the customs agent said that she asked whose
suitcase it was and Antonini said it was his.
But what was key, was that the custom agent did not say
that she had checked all of the luggage, just that all of it went through the
x-ray machine and she noticed something in the now infamous $800,000 suitcase.
By the time she had that one open, the rest of the luggage and the people had
moved on. Thus, all of it went
through the machine but only this suitcase was opened.
At some point the judge in the trial seem to suggest there
was sufficient evidence to find Duran guilty of being a foreign Government
agent and asked the defense if he would bring new evidence to the contrary.
The defense brought Duran's nephew to testify that it was
Antonini who asked for help, not the other way around. This angle seems
surprising, given evidence that the men were acting on behalf of the Venezuelan
Government, independently of who initiated the request for help.
The trial seems to be winding down and it will resume on
Tuesday.
In 2003
Hugo Chavez was grandstanding around the world claiming he did not believe in
"representative" democracy, because he only believed in
"participatory" democracy. Supposedly he only believed in the
"people" and not in those elected by them to make decisions.
Of course, at the time he had a plural National Assembly that wanted to discuss
things and the like, which went against his vary autocratic and dictatorial
nature, so the word participatory would come out of his mouth every ten words.
Not any
more!
Because the "people" decided in December in a referendum that they
did not want many changes to the Constitution, but instead of accepting the
decision of the "participatory" democracy associated with a
referendum Chavez simply went back to the only form of participatory democracy
he likes: He participates the people what it is he wants, independent of the
illegality.
The Bill gives Hugo the autocrat (dictator) the right to be the "supreme authority
on the organization and management of the territory" conducting public
policy in the building of a socialist geographical space", all concepts
rejected in the referendum and thus in violation of what people voted.
The Bill also gives Chavez the authority to name the same "Regional
Authorities" that voters said last December they did not want, a new
position which represents Chavez in the regions and have a hierarchy above the
elected Governors of the country.
There are other morsels, like the whole territory of the country is defined as
"public utility" and all subject to expropriation, also a concept
rejected in the December referendum.
So, when people come and tell me Venezuela is a democracy because Chavez was
elected, they better be prepared t tell me how it is that Chavez can ignore the
vote of a referendum and legislate at will what the people rejected explicitly.
Of course, they will just go on a tangent that simply demonstrates that they
are Dictator lovers with no democratic principles or beliefs in human rights.
But we knew that even before this or the 26 Bills approved by Chavez the
autocrat (dictator) under his enabling Bill were passed without consultation.
Because in the end, Venezuela
ceased being a democracy long ago, when Chavez began walking the gray areas he
is not afraid to step of these days. And as rights and laws are violated the
fascists of the left continue to raise their ugly heads to defend the
indefensible.
For some reason, probably not innocent, all public files with the Maisanta program online end up corrupt or useless. So, here is another try. I have placed the file over here, it is called santaines and it is about 300 MB. It is an .exe file. You download it and run it and it will install the Maisanta database in all its infamous glory on your PC. No Mac version available. I tried it, it takes about an hour with Cantv ADSL (ABA) and it works!
---Hugo Chavez orders one million computers from Portugal. Of
course, these are nothing more than modified Classmate PCs manufactured in Portugal under
license from Intel. The price was not revealed, but I do hope Chavez drove a
hard bargain, those PCs are
sold in Portugal
(without subsidy) for 285 Euros (US$ 391.6 at todays exchange rate). But you
can find it in Amazon for US$ 359.1. Of course, I am
assuming there were no robolutionary intermediaries in the transaction. ---And Chavez called the US economic policies a sinking ship, criticizing
the printing of money and the easy mortgages. This from a man that has
increased the money supply in five years from US$ 14 billion to US$ 78 billion
and recently passed a Bill allowing people to get mortgages with no down
payment! ---And then Chavez praises
the Caracas Stock Exchange because it is now disconnected from the New York
Stock Exchange. That is like saying the dinosaurs are disconnected from the
Earth. Hugo Chavez and his policies destroyed the Caracas Stock Exchange. When
he got to power in 1998, daily volume in stocks was US$ 10-20 million, it is
down to half a million these days, as the market ahs become simply irrelevant.
Not one company has come public in recent years (5?) as the stock market
becomes an irrelevant business for local brokers. ---And in another
robolutionary tidbit, Podemos Deputy Juan Molina denounced
that Chavista Deputy Hiroshima Bravo collects two salaries every month, one
from the National Assembly ad the other form the tax office. I guess that is
the reason why they named her Head of the Finance Committee last year, she
certainly knows how to count her money. ---And investigations on
the suitcase case Maletagate are very advanced according
to the Prosecutor. Well, in the US they are already holding a trial
of crimes that took place after the suitcase and here things are very advanced
That is Venezuelan Justice, if it exists.
---Yesterday, I wrote
about the opposition President of the Universidad de Los Andes
Student Council, who asked for asylum at the Vaticans Embassy and his rights
and the laws are not being respected. Today the opposition President of the
student council of Universidad del Zulia was killed by twenty shots from a car that intercepted the
path of the vehicle transporting him. It may be coincidental, but it is
certainly very convenient for the Government!
Nixon
Moreno was an opposition student leader who was ready to win the elections for
student council at the Universidad de Los Andes when the Government canceled the
elections saying they should be supervised by the Electoral Board.
Demonstrations followed the cancelation and then the Government charged Moreno
with raping a police women. Moreno
asked for asylum from the Vatican which he got after
the Vatican
investigated the case. So far, the Venezuelan Government has refused to grant
him asylum, the Electoral Board did not allow him to run for office in his own
State of Merida arguing he does not reside in that State (Neither do dozens of
Chavista candidates all over the country) and the busy Comptroller is trying to
invalidate his Bachelors degree by doing an exhaustive investigation on how
Moreno passed his last few courses remotely from the Vatican's Embassy. This is
simply further harassment and violation of Moreno's
rights. Today, Teodoro Petkoff addresses the issue of how the Chavez Government
ignores treaties and international law and acts like Dictators of the past and
present.
A Time of Rats by Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual
What officialdom is doing with Nixon Moreno goes beyond the
limits of being a mean thing. But it gives you a good measure of the moral
fiber of the people of the Venezuelan Government. There are those that slander
Nixon and there are those who are silent, even if they now what a despicable
thing the whole thing is. But the worst one is the maximum leader. The one that
has no qualms in pointing out publicly that Nixon is a "rapist". It
is the problem of not being named Daniel Ortega. They not only invented an
absurd accusation, about the supposed attempt of rape of a policewoman in the
middle of a student demonstration and with hundreds of witnesses that deny such
a fabrication, but now the Government is denying him safe passage to leave the
Vatican's Embassy, where he has been under asylum and travel abroad. In other
words, the Government pretends to leave Nixon in jail at the Vatican's Embassy,
This is the same thing the Dictator Odria did wit Haya de la Torre during five
and a bit years in the Colombian Embassy in Peru and the same as the brutal
military dictatorship of Burma maintains in prison in her house the daring
fighter for human rights that she denounces and fights. It is the same
attitude. It is the same disdain for legality and international agreements. The
same disdain for public opinion. Exactly the same contempt for human beings. We
are living in times of rats.
And another brilliant accomplishment of the robolution: Top spot in the list of murder capitals of the world. I am sure some PSF can find some silver lining or positive spin in this...Maybe they will say this is good, after all the opposition is now a majority in Caracas, in time they may kill enough of us to recover their former leadership....
Well,
corruption does not go any higher than this:
First, the Prosecutor in the Maletagate trial in Miami presented the letter
which Guido Antonini wrote to none other than President Hugo Chavez, the supposed savior of
the people and sweeper of corruption, which
said more or less:
"Dear Commander Chavez, the money stayed at the airport and I stayed there with
the promises of those that were in the flight. I saw the Head of Security of
PDVSA carry the suitcases on the plane, where there was another suitcase with
money already. I am now a man being hunted for something I did not do. Only you
can give me the guarantees and a document saying that I left Caracas
with that money. I need it to save my good name (sic), I also need two million
dollars to pay the lawers.
I joined the trip to talk to Uberti about a deal related with the building of
the gas pipeline, but Uberti had no intention to talk to me. He had dinner and
saw the movie..I would like you to know that I am very grateful for your help
in solving this case"
No wonder Chavez calls him a traitor!
Later, in an audio tape supposedly between the Head of the Venezuelan
Intelligence Police General Rangel, accused last week by the US
for cooperating in the FARC's drug trafficking, Rangel
tells Antonini to stay calm, that he understood his anguish and told him he
did not have a copy of the letter to Chavez...but, says Rangel, there is no
problem...and we are working to solve the problems down south. Later, Rangel
says that he received instructions from the man he wrote the letter to, at
which point the Prosecutor asked Antonini who that referred to and he
answered: Hugo Chavez.
Rangel also says "The kid I sent there gave me the
information you had, I need you to name someone to take care of the financial
part"
Later, in an audio tape between Duran and Antonini, where
Antonini mentions the letter to Chavez, Duran tells him: " If you get too
close to the sun, you might burn yourself"
The defense began then questioning Antonini and said
he had evidence that Antonini and Duran had a disagreement for a US$ 23 million
deal for building home in Uruguay.
(Which is another story, as this case was raised in Uruguay's
press, suggesting they set up a company to build homes in that country with
Venezuelan money. The houses we4re never built, but somehow US$ 23 million left
the company's account and landed in that of Antonini's wife. This was reported
in Uruguay,
but it is the first time it is mentioned in the trial or anywhere else)
In another tape, Duran tells him that this is being handled at the very top and
that nobody at the middle levels knows about it.
Can it be any juicier, dirtier and clearer than that?
All I am waiting for is Hugo Chavez to come on TV and say parodying a famous US
politician many years ago: " I am not a crook"
Corruption does indeed run all the way to the top in Venezuela and the fact that General
Rangel is still at his position and nothing is being investigated here simply proves it!
A thinned
out Guido Antonini showed up in Court today and basically confirmed a lot that had been said before or
that had been dug up by Argentinean newspaper la Nacion.
Among the highlights:
---Antonini confirmed that
PDVSA VP Diego Uzcategui asked him two days after the suitcase was caught where
the other suitcase with US$ 4.2 million was.Antonini claims he had no idea
about it.
---Antonini also confirmed
that his suitcase was checked after most of the others were already in the
cars. While his suitcase was being inspected Daniel Uzcategui stayed with
him and took some US$ 30,000 from the suitcase at some point.
---He also reiterated what
the secretary of Claudio Uberti had said, that Antonini did indeed attend a
reception at the Argentinean Presidential palace, the Casa Rosada. At that
reception, the Minister of Planning of Argentina greeted him, contradicting the
Minister's statement that he does not even know Antonini and Claudio Uberti at
that same reception offered him "whatever he wanted from Argentina"
because he had done a great favor for that country. At that reception he says
Ramirez sees him, but does not say hello to him.
---Antonini testified that
both Duran and Kauffmann offered him their jet planes to go to Spain or Israel until the storm over the
Maletagate scandal had passed.
---In the tapes played,
Duran says that PDVSA will give the money (for Antonini) to the DISIP and these
in turn will give it to his lawyers. Duran states that he does not trust
Minister of Energy Ramirez, saying "Ramirez and Uzcategui got you into
this problem".
No new dramatic
revelations, but consistent with what the tapes said and what Duran, who is
being accused discussed earlier in the tapes. The Minister of Planning of
Argentina has tried to deny knowing Antonini and or his presence at the
Presidential Palace, but both Antonini and Uberti's secretary have confirmed
it.So far the main facts of the story are consistent with the tapes.
As people have said in the
comments: "Pass the popcorn" the robolution will continue to
entertain and surprise"
In a nonsensical decision the Venezuelan Government has just ordered all Venezuelan banks to reserve 50% of all and any investments held in Lehman Brothers and-or Merril Lynch.
Recall that many banks had structured notes in US banks and investment banks which were guaranteed with either dollars or securities and which were purchased with depositors money. Because the parallel swap rate had gone down these were worth much less than what appeared in the banks' books, creating huge losses. However some of these notes were at Lehman Brothers which went bankrupt ten days ago. What makes absolutely no sense is to force these banks to take the loss in Merril Lynch, which has agreed to merge with Bank of America. If the merger goes through, all of the investments in Merril Lynch will be honored, which is obviously not the case in Lehman Brothers.
I can think of at least four banks, and it could be more, that can not survive this unless the owners replace the capital. Basically, if they reserve both Lehman and Merril, they are technically bankrupt, not because of Lehman Brotehrs, but because of this resolution.
I am not sure the Government understands what it just did, but it coudl be the start of a financial crisis...
So much for being immune to the US credit crisis as Chavez claims...
