The Maletagate case gets ever more interesting despite the denials, charges of "infamy" and "agression" by Venezuela and Argentina. The truth is that the case gets more sordid by the minute and denials only get the two Governments in deeper in the mud, for lackof a dirtier word that Chavez likes, of the cesspool of corruption they created.
Among the most recent developments:
---The fifth man which was not captured by the FBI Antonio Canchica, is a member of Venezuela's intelligence police DISIP. At least one more of the men captured had DISIP credentials when detained by the FBI.
---The most important charge was the fact that they were acting as agents of a foreign country, Venezuela, without registering with the authorities. A very undiplomatic and politically incorrect Hugo Chavez said he had agents spying for him in the US, but none of the ones captured were his "people". Thus, he is admitting the crime these people are being charged with is correct, in that Venezuela has unregistered foreign agents in the US. I guess Chavez did not know about these ones then.
---The Governor of Cojedes State, Jhony Yanes, held a press conference at which he said this was terror by the US and that Antonini did not commit any crime by bringing in the suitcase into Argentina. I guess he has not read the Foreign Exchange Illegalities Bill, old or new, which does classify exporting from Venezuela more than US$ 10,000 as a crime. Yanez did not comment on the coincidence that it was Carlos Kaufmann, detained in Miami, that paid his vacation at the Llao Llao Hotel in August as proven by reporter Leocenis Garcia.
---Today in Argentina's Parliament, Deputies from the opposition were asking who authorized these flights to arrive in the middle of the night from abroad. According to them, that airport is never used for these international flights and its use could only be justified to hide their purpose.
---And in the most explosive charge today, the Secretary of Claudio Uberti, the Czar of toll roads in Argentina, who was considered to be a second parallel Argentinean Ambassador to Venezuela and who came on the plane with Antonini and the suitcase, reportedly testified that on August 6th.two days after the suitcase was discovered, Antonini went to Argentina's Casa Rosada. The Casa Rosada is the Presidential Palace and this lady claims that she saw Antonini there at teh same time that Nestor Kirchner and Hugo Chavez were holding a small ceremony to celebrate the signing of a gas agreement. The son of the PDVSA President David Uzcategui, who was also on the plane was also reported to be there. Uberti is the only Government official of either country who has been removed.
The video:
---And now we have Maletagate II, the military officer and Bandes official who jumped from a Venezuelan military airplane in Bolivia with a suitcase which had over US$ 800,000 in cash, in another sign of the levels of corruption in Venezuela. The man claimed that the money was for "development projects".
Elides Rojas of El Universal has a very acid sense of humor which is probably why I like what he writes and was willing to translate today´s piece by him, which was not easy. Enjoy!
For
nine years each triumph was followed by a celebration march. And
another one a year later to celebrate the triumph from the previous
year. And tons of rallies to celebrate the anniversary of the February
coup, disguised as a gesture for freedom. And the march of the march
for the march on the birthday of the first triumph in 1998. And the
party of the party for the party to commemorate the triumph of the
legitimacy. The year that we eliminated Frijolito I. The year we maimed
Frijolito II. The year we crushed Frijolito III. In 2007, tatarata,
tatarata, tatata the bugle sounds, the super victory of dignity. The
triumph of courage. The year in which even Chavez became opposition.
It
is the beginning of the era in which votes don't count. What counts now
is courage and dignity, as Fidel Castro usually tells Cubans, in the
middle of a historic famine that sells it as a triumph to people used
to living in the best of defeats. Suffering and with hunger, but with
revolutionary dignity. Way to go!
As
usual, a fiery speech. Theatrical thunder. I am glad I did not hear the
King talking to me. If I had heard him who knows what may have
happened. We did not win. We did not lose. We simply reedited the for
now of the day that we staged the coup, that we betrayed our oath, that
we used the weapons against our own people and to finish off that
illustrious epic, it fell on me the honor of surrendering with glory,
dignity and with our moral at the highest level. They all know by now
that I am impressionable. Mi favorite Minister said it, that
philologist lent to the arms. For now there will be no milk, nor eggs,
nor cheese. For now there is no meat, tuna and sardines. For now there
are gas and gasoline shortages. For now we have plenty of crime and
criminals. For now enjoy the sucking up, so as not to use the dignified
language of the revolution. There are no losers here. For now get up
real early and stand in line at the exchange control office CADIVI to
gather the scraps of dollars that we hand over to the unconscious,
immature and treacherous people. For now, the large bundles travel in
suitcases and in airplanes to other dignified valiant people. For now,
you bunch of ungrateful people; it is not that we are going to reform
the Constitution to take away your cars and apartments. What we are
going to do is to increase interest rates until the revolutionary moral
and dignity drowns you and you lose even the last capitalist junk you
own. You are stupid and bon vivants. All you do is ask. Missions, easy
university degrees, students scholarships, trips to the Caracas
marches, free t-shirts and caps, 150 thousand Bolívars per march.
People don't know what they have until they lose it, you bunch of
ignorant fools. For now, go to the Mega mercales, Mercal and little
Mercales. For now, you pack of immature people; I will have to leave
in 2013. Please don't cry or stamp your feet. I am leaving. You lost;
you bunch of lazy people, vagabonds. For now, tighten that spirit
comrades.
