As the New York Times had a long article on the details of the Maletagate case, the suitcase found with $800,000 in the hands of Venezuelan/US businessman Guido Antonini, it was clear that the case will not go away for either Venezuela or Argentina and that those involved in it are trying to pass the buck pointing fingers at each other, which is surely going to make a lot of people very nervous.
This week, the prosecutor in the case handed over videos and audios to the judge in Miami, while the Venezuelan defendants in the case declared themselves not guilty, but were denied bail by the judge. While the Venezuelan Government has tried to distance itself from the case, TV station Globovision revealed yesterday that the only person at large in the case, Antonio Jose Canchica Gomez, was not a member of the intelligence police DISIP as had been reported up to now, but was actually an active military officer in the Venezuelan Army, which will only make things more complicated for the Chavez administration and the other defendants. The other defendants are saying they have nothing to do with the Venezuelan Government, as the US Government is charging them with being foreign agents in US soil, but were actually trying to help their friend Guido Antonini, who was actually taping them whenever they met. But Canchica being still in the military will make it harder for them to distance themselves from the Venezuelan Government after what they said on tape.
Meanwhile, the son of the PDVSA Vice President that was in the jet plane with Antonini, David Uzcategui, talked to an Argentinean newspaper and he clearly was trying to distance his father from the case and pass the buck to the Argentineans involved in it. Uzcategui said that he and Antonini were invited on the plane by Argentinean official Claudio Uberti, an adviser to that country’s Planing Ministry and the man in charge of toll roads in Argentina, who was forced to resign over the scandal. Uzcategui also said that the suitcase was not his. Thus, Uzcategui is trying to distance his father from the case, an unlikely story given his age, as he says Uberti and his secretary asked them as friends if they had anything to do that weekend and that his father did not like him flying in official airplanes.
But perhaps the most damming statement by Uzcategui, was that confirming the the testimony of Uberti’s secretary in Argentina that two days after Antonini was caught with the suitcase with the cash, he was at the Argentinean Presidential Palace, the Casa Rosada, invited by Argentinean officials to participate in a joint Venezuela-Argentina ceremony. Argentinean officials, including the current Chief of the Cabinet Alberto Fernandez, have denied that this was the case, but two witnesses have now said this was the case. Uzcategui also suggests he was not present only because he was late, but he fails to explain how he came to be invited that day. Argentinean authorities have requested that Interpol find Uzcategui to testify on the case and it is clear he wants to pass the buck to the Argentinean officials and distance his father from the case.
Meanwhile in Miami, the accused are now using different lawyers and strategies. All of the accused in custody have to be in jail until the trial begins and may get up to 10 years in prison for their role in the scandal. Thus, while declaring themselves not guilty, this may be just an opening position to negotiate leniency in exchange for more details about their role in the case and their huge fortunes, which is surely making a lot of people nervous in Venezuela. Meanwhile, the man with the suitcase, Guido Antonini, has not been charged with anything as he cooperates fully with the US authorities.
The case is certainly not going away for a long time.
The Devil's Excrement 
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