"Suitcase Scandal" is Another U.S. Foreign Policy Blunder

[Judi Lynn]

"Suitcase Scandal" is Another U.S. Foreign Policy Blunder
By Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet
Posted on January 10, 2008, Printed on January 11, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/73381/

The now infamous "suitcase scandal" has deeply alienated the new Argentine government and is likely to further sully Washington's reputation in Latin America.
(snip)

Edmund McWilliams, a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer here in Washington, cited other cases where "the Justice Department subordinated the pursuit of justice to Administration foreign policy objectives." He noted that this prosecution "may have been at the instigation of the Administration itself."

It sure looks that way. There has never been an indictment under this law (18 USC § 951), or its accompanying conspiracy statute (18 USC § 371) - without there at least being another accusation involving some kind of alleged espionage, and some kind of potential U.S. national security issue. In this case, it is really only the failure to notify the Attorney General that is the basis of the alleged crime. And the case may be even weaker than that: almost all of the indictment is devoted to the conspiracy charge, which indicates that the government may not even have any real evidence that the defendants were acting under orders from the Venezuelan government.

This particular case also does not smell good on its merits. The star witness is the man with the suitcase (Antonini), who has not been charged. Since he is wanted for money laundering in Argentina, he might well see his current liberty as dependent on saying and doing whatever the U.S. government wants.

So far the prosecution hasn't released any evidence that either the Argentine government or the Venezuelan government were involved in whatever the bag man was doing with the cash. Other things do not add up: Cristina Kirchner had no serious electoral challenge (the second place finisher got 23 percent to her 45 percent). Why would she risk taking $800,000 from Venezuela? And why send a shady businessman from the U.S. through Argentine customs, when the cash could have been placed securely in a piece of Venezuelan diplomatic luggage, which by law cannot be searched?

More:
http://www.alternet.org/audits/73381/

[magbana]

1. Venezuela Solidarity Network Demands Records of US Payments to Argentine Groups and Politicians

Hi Judy:
glad to see VSN pursuing this. magbana


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Information Contact
January 12, 2008 Chuck Kaufman
202-544-9355
[e-mail]

VSN Demands Records of US Payments to Argentine Groups and Politicians

The independent US Venezuela Solidarity Network (VSN) on Friday January 11, 2008 filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) demands to US government agencies for “all records” of “all grants, payments and/or funds transfers to individuals, groups or political parties in Argentina from January 1, 2006 to date.”

FOIA requests were submitted to the US Agency of International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Included in the request to the NED was the demand for records from its core groups, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the AFL-CIO’s American Center for International Labor Solidarity, and the Chamber of Commerce’s Center for International Private Enterprise.

VSN’s Interim National Coordinator Chuck Kaufman explained, “When the US government arrested several people in Miami and attacked the Venezuelan government for allegedly sending nearly $800,000 to Argentina for President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s campaign, we were struck not only by the flimsy evidence, but by the sheer level of hypocrisy involved. We decided to make public how much money the US government spent on the presidential election in Argentina and who received it.”

In 2006 Kaufman led delegations to Nicaragua and Venezuela to investigate US involvement in those countries’ presidential elections that year. In Nicaragua US ambassador Paul Trivelli admitted that he had $12 million to spend on the election and an IRI official bragged that “we started” a supposedly independent group that opposed Sandinista candidate Daniel Ortega’s candidacy. In Venezuela an embassy official confirmed press reports that USAID was spending $23 million and the NED another $3 million for groups opposed to President Hugo Chavez’ candidacy.

“The Bush Administration is extremely worried about the growing rejection of US political and economic hegemony in Latin America,” Kaufman said. “They were surely up to their eyeballs in the Argentine election. Argentina, after all, was the first country in Latin America to kick out the International Monetary Fund which enforces US economic policy,” he noted.

So-called “democracy building” programs are an ever larger portion of foreign aid money administered by USAID. In Venezuela the funds pass though a US embassy office named the Office of Transition Initiatives. Purported to be non-partisan, US democracy building grants go preponderantly to groups and individuals aligned with US government and corporate policies.

“They are democracy manipulating programs pure and simple,” Kaufman said. “One of NED’s founders, Alan Weinstein, was quoted at the time as saying, ‘We do now overtly what the CIA did covertly 25 years ago.’”

The Venezuela Solidarity Network filed the FOIAs in an effort to educate US taxpayers about the fact that their money is being spent to manipulate other countries’ elections. It would be illegal if those countries spent money to influence elections in the US. “US citizens believe in free and fair elections and they would be outraged if they knew our government was trying to rig elections in other countries,” Kaufman said.

The FOIA’s were filed on behalf of the Venezuela Solidarity Network by the public interest law firm, Partnership for Civil Justice. The Partnership for Civil Justice just last week won a lawsuit against New York City for refusing to permit an anti-war demonstration in Central Park during the 2004 Republican convention.

The VSN is a network of US local and national organizations formed to expose and oppose US government intervention in Venezuela and to support Venezuela’s Bolivarian process to reduce poverty and increase economic justice in that country. Its web page is www.vensolidarity.org.

###

[Judi Lynn]

2. This common sense approach is stunning! Bush has had it easy all this time, simply sitting in the

country's White House he stole, pouring billions of dollars into destabilization of other governments, then tries to create a scandal which will make trouble for Venezuela, a government _Bush has already tried to destroy several different ways already.

Fernandez was already winning, had been far ahead in the polls for ages by the time this "scandal" was "discovered." She had absolutely no need whatsoever for secret funding. What a whopper of a charge to try to stick on her and Venezuela.

It will be so interesting to see who gets the last word in THIS situation, won't it?

How excellent to start looking into what _Bush is doing to destabilize Christina Fernandez. I'm sure you're very aware that the entire _Bush family was very close to the asshole President Carlos Saul Menem, who really screwed the Argentininian economy royally, and was impeached in the process.

They only like the ones who'll do their bidding. That means they see Ms. Fernandez as their mortal enemy. We should have all realized this far earlier than this: we should have expected it, too, ourselves!

As for your article, I've seen this quote before, too!

“One of NED’s founders, Alan Weinstein, was quoted at the time as saying, ‘We do now overtly what the CIA did covertly 25 years ago.’”

You bet they do, and they do a lot of it. So much of U.S. taxpayers' money is getting thrown into black projects like this, with the taxpayers having absolutely no way to protest whatsoever, and all the time, _Bush is looking for ways to arrange for his wealthy supporters to pay even less and less into sponsoring this government which gives them so much control over the entire world. Pity, isn't it?

To see someone speak up, to start investigating is such an encouraging step forward. So glad you posted this!