Pres. Cristina Fernandez of Argentina calls out the neo cons

[donsu]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071213/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/argentina_cash_suitcase;_ylt=A9G_Rz3q72FHJsQAEROs0NUE


Argentine leader riled by US cash charge

Argentina's new president reacted furiously Thursday to accusations by U.S. prosecutors that an intercepted suitcase full of cash from Venezuela was meant to finance her election campaign, calling the charge "garbage in international politics."

Aides to President Cristina Fernandez accused Washington of using a "vile trick" to smear her government for its close ties to Venezuela's leftist leader, Hugo Chavez, who is campaigning to reduce U.S. influence in Latin America.

Fernandez, one of only two female heads of state in Latin America, suggested the charges might have been directed at her in part because of her gender.

"This president may be a woman, but she's not going to allow herself to be pressured," Fernandez said, glaring at the cameras. She denounced the U.S. criminal complaint, but did not address the substance of the charges — that foreigners secretly tried to fund her campaign.

-snip-

The charges of a clandestine attempt to contribute nearly $800,000 in August put both the Argentine and Venezuelan governments on the defensive as opponents sought to turn the case into a political liability.

Fernandez appeared taken off guard by the charge that surfaced just two days after her inauguration. Her opponents demanded that Argentine authorities take testimony from four men charged in Miami with orchestrating a cover-up with top Venezuelan officials after the undeclared cash was seized by Argentine customs.

It's not against Argentine law for foreigners to contribute to a presidential campaign, but it is illegal to do so secretly. It also is illegal to bring undeclared cash into the country.

In a Florida court Wednesday, U.S. prosecutors accused the men of being illegal agents of a foreign government and said recorded conversations indicated the scheme reached the highest levels of the Venezuelan government.

The Venezuelan-American businessman who carried the suitcase, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, is not charged and appears to be a key witness in the case. He is named in an extradition request by Argentina, where he is wanted on fraud charges.
-snip-
------------------------


aaahhh Miami, such an exciting town

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. I'm missing something here in this story.

The money was going from Venezuela to Argentina. It was seized by Argentinian customs officials.

What part of that is playing in US courts? How do we possibly have any jurisdiction?

[Peace Patriot]

6. The Bushites wanted it in Bushite courts in Miami, so they got their guy out of

Argentina. Argentina caught him coming in, and confiscated the money, but let him return home to Miami, and now have an extradition request to the U.S. to get him back. See my post below.

Two Bush Junta courts in Florida have now ruled that the public has no right to review the "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, by which all our votes are now 'counted,' even in very controversial vote counts, like FL-13 in 2006.

So you can imagine what such courts will do when it comes to Bushite covert ops in their Oil War II in South America. Also, this Bushite U.S. Attorney in Miami needs to be looked at--given the horrendous Dept. of Justice scandals about using U.S. attorneys and our justice system for ill purposes.

[LakeSamish706]

2. Well I guess the US Govt. better Waterboard these guys to...

get at the truth about this... Is there any instance that this WH doesn't stick there nose into that does not concern them?

:sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

3. i`d like to see her and bush get together

and watch the sparks fly when he tries to grope this lady....


oh i forgot this picture.....

[DBoon]

4. at least one of those women looks intelligent and engaged

and some countries have the sense to elect leaders instead of stooges

[Peace Patriot]

5. Here's the context: Rumsfeld's 'PNAC' plan for South America...

...published in WaPo on 12/1/07 (a day before the Venezuelan referendum on laws giving the presidency more powers, as well as equal rights and other social justice measures for Venezuelans--a referendum that lost narrowly--50.7% to 49.3%--amidst intense rightwing propaganda, and worldwide corporate news attacks on Chavez).

Read it and weep--for the people of the south, in Venezuela, in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Argentina and other countries that are declaring their independence from the U.S.--who may suffer from Rumsfeld's dreadful schemes:

"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

Rumsfeld is not "smart," but he is very powerful, and is no doubt funded with billions of dollars stolen from us in Iraq, as well as having a mercenary army at his command. What we are looking at is Theater of War II, in the Corporate Resource War: South America. As Rumsfeld lays out, it is both economic and military warfare, AND warfare on the constitutional government in the U.S. He wants to remove any remaining "checks and balances" in our own government--for instance, the slowpokes in Congress who are holding up "free trade" with Colombia--so that the U.S. can take "swift" action in support of "friends and allies" in South America, i.e., fascist elites and their rightwing paramilitary thugs who stage coups.

Colombia, where they chainsaw union leaders and throw their body parts into mass graves, is Rumsfeld's choice for launching pad of this war--his favorite country in South America, on whom the Bushites have larded billions of dollars in military and other aid for their corrupt "war on drugs. The war has already been launched, with covert ops such as this suitcase-full-of-money garbage, and has been on-going against Venezuelan democracy for the entirety of the Bush Junta, for instance, with righwing paramilitaries in Colombia, with close ties to the Uribe government, recently exposed as having plotted to assassinate Hugo Chavez and other democratic leaders. Now the Bushites are going after Argentina and the Kirchners--close allies of the Chavez government in Venezuela. And they are no doubt behind the rightwing forces in Bolivia, who are causing a lot of trouble for Evo Morales, another Bolivarian leader and Venezuelan ally.

In all three of the core Bolivarian countries, the grass roots supporters of these new leaders are seeking constitutional re-writes that strengthen the presidency. And this is why. Rumsfeld's PNAC-II. They know what's coming. They need strong, empowered presidents to deal with it. I think that the 10% of pro-Chavez voters who were swayed against the recent referendum, by the rightwing disinformation campaign, will live to regret those votes. Chavez's control of the central bank, new emergency powers to deal with more coup attempts, and the threat to the rightwing of Chavez running again in 2012, would have provided important tools with which to PRESERVE Venezuela's sovereignty, its existing social justice programs and its clean elections, in the face of vicious hostility and threats from Rumsfeld and his fascist/corporate cabal.

In any case, I think Rumsfeld will lose this war BECAUSE he is not very smart, BECAUSE he is just a thug himself--a thug with a lot of money. But he may be able to inflict great suffering in the process, as he has elsewhere in the world.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Looks as if Rumsfeld feels he can outdo Kissinger's meddling. He's outed himself by coming forward

to offer his two cents here, telling people he is very much still on the job, and the fact he's not physically at his desk is only circumstantial, that he really hasn't left, and wouldn't had it not be a political necessity for _Bush to create the illusion of a break from the past.

Yep, he's telling us all his counsel is still as important in policy as it ever was.

He doesn't seem to notice or care that Kissinger is living on borrowed time, and if anyone ever gets a clear line at him, he will be tried in court in Chile, or god only knows where else for crimes against humanity.

I'm praying the Neo-Cons will overplay their hand so completely they all bring down the wrath of god upon themselves, and set their party back 50 years. Of course it would mean everyone else has to suddenly grow a spine, and a conscience.

Rumsfeld has absolutely no business whatsoever, nor does anyone in Washington, in butting into Latin America. They have surely done far more damage long ago than anyone would have dreamed possible.

Butt out, get out, stay out, and let these people run their own lives, Rumsfeld, _Bush. None of your business.

[Peace Patriot]

7. More facts on this Bushite covert op...

"Venezuela, Argentina Accuse US of Smear Campaign"

December 13th 2007, by Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com

"Mérida, December 13, 2007, (venezuelanalysis.com) Government authorities from both Venezuela and Argentina accused the United States of carrying out a smear campaign against them yesterday after US officials arrested four individuals accused of being agents of the Venezuelan government. US officials alleged that the arrested individuals were involved in trying to cover up an 'international scandal' between Venezuela and Argentina, but both countries have rejected the claims.

"Three Venezuelan citizens and one Uruguayan citizen were arrested in Miami on Tuesday night and appeared before a federal court yesterday on charges of "acting and conspiring to act as agents of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela within the United States," according to an official statement from the US Department of Justice.

"The Assistant US Attorney General for National Security Kenneth Wainstein accused the defendants of 'coordinating and participating in a series of meetings' with the Venezuelan-American Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, who was involved in the illegal trafficking of nearly US$ 800,000 from Venezuela to Argentina last August.

"Argentinean customs officials caught Antonini on August 4th of this year attempting to enter the country with a suitcase that contained US$ 790,000. Argentinean officials confiscated the money, but Antonini returned to his home in South Florida.

"According to the Assistant Attorney General, the four defendants were working on behalf of the Venezuelan government to get Antonini's help in covering up the source of the money, which, according to US officials, was for 'the presidential campaign of Cristina (Fernandez) Kirchner.'

"'The complaint filed today outlines an alleged plot by agents of the Venezuelan government to manipulate an American citizen in Miami in an effort to keep the lid on a burgeoning international scandal,' said Wainstein.

"But both the Argentinean and Venezuelan governments have rejected the claims, calling them a 'desperate attempt' to tarnish the growing ties between the two countries. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro assured that the case was part of a U.S. plan to damage Venezuela's image.

"'This information from Miami makes the role of the US government in this campaign to damage the relations between our governments very clear,' said Maduros who assured that they have 'no doubt' that the United States is behind the political scandal.

"'We are seeing a desperate effort by the government of the United States, using delicate mechanisms of judicial power for a political, psychological, and media war against the continent's progressive governments,' he assured.

"President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez also rejected the claims, comparing them to an American movie in which 'you never know how much is true and how much is a lie.' The Argentinean president assured that she "would not be pressured," and insisted that she would maintain her close ties to the Venezuelan government.

"'All of our convictions and policies are going to be deepened because Argentina has never needed anyone to tell her who she can be friends with,' she said.

"President Fernandez, without actually mentioning the United States, accused the country of wanting to subordinate them to their own interests.

"'Instead of wanting nations of friends, they want nations of employees and subordinates,' she said.

"But the president assured that she would continue efforts to strengthen Mercosur, the Bank of the South, and the construction of a 'multilateral world.'

"Argentinean cabinet member Alberto Fernandez, who called the case a 'US intelligence operation,' also explained that the accusations of the US officials are unlikely to be true. He pointed out that Antonini was detained by the Argentinean officials upon entering the country, and the money was confiscated. Fernandez explained that if the Chavez government wanted to bring in money to finance the campaign of Cristina Fernandez, they could have easily done it a few days later when President Chavez visited the country.

"'If the objective was to enter with a suitcase of money he could have entered the next day in Chavez' airplane and no one would have noticed,' he said.

"'But this thing has the characteristics of being a dirty trick to tarnish the presence of Chavez in Argentina,' said Fernandez. 'I have no doubt of that.'

"Fernandez called on the United States to answer Argentina's request for the extradition of Antonini Wilson, so that they can carry out an investigation with regards to the $800,000.

"'If the United States is really interested in the truth, they should extradite Antonini Wilson. But I'm afraid they are protecting him,' he said."

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3001

(Venezuelanalysis is a "fair use" site.)

[Judi Lynn]

11. Here's the C-Span re-run of the Fernandez inauguration speech. It's great.

Very cool seeing the great faces in the audience from time to time, as well.

This is an excellent speech, through a translator:
http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=+Fernandez+inauguration&image1.x=22&image1.y=15

If anyone wonders who are the ladies in the balcony with the white scarves, they are the women whose daughters were taken by the right-wing Argentinian military coup, thrown into prison, kept alive while they completed their pregnancies, gave birth in prison, then were killed, and their children handed out like door prizes to Argentinian officers and their families.

The mothers created their own group for protest, which was infiltrated by the Agentinian government, one of the agents being the "Angel of Death," Naval Captain Alfredo Astiz, who was there to gather information which would assist the government in trying the mothers for crimes against the state, and added to the 30,000 people slaughtered by their US-supported regime.



Alfredo Astiz

Wiki on Alfredo Astiz, which sheds light, also, upon the previous government referred to in the speech by Cristina Fernandez on the event of her inauguration:

~snip~
Kidnapping and torture
Astiz specialized in infiltrating peaceful organisations protesting extra-judicial executions to identify their members and, after sufficient members had been identified, kidnap them. A survivor amongst the many he kidnapped, Martin Gras, a human rights lawyer, claimed in 1982 that Astiz was a charming man who rarely tortured or murdered those he kidnapped but usually handed them on to others in the system. Yet Astiz was well thought of within the armed forces for his effective interrogation techniques and in 1979 he was sent to the Argentine embassy in South Africa to give a series of seminars on torture techniques to the South African security police. While there he also participated in a number of discussion groups to exchange ideas regarding methods of interrogation.

In 1976 Astiz kidnapped Azucena Villaflor de Vicenti, the founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a non-violent group of mothers protesting the disappearance of their children. Neither she, nor any of the other early members of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo kidnapped by Astiz on the same night, were ever seen again. While Astiz kidnapped hundreds of people during 1976 and 1977, it was his kidnap and mistreatment of three foreigners that was later to cause him minor inconvenience as a prisoner of war.

On the 27 January 1977 Dagmar Ingrid Hagelin, a 17-year-old girl having Swedish citizenship (although her mother was an Argentine called Buccicardi, her father was the Swedish citizen Ragnar-Erland Hagelin, who has been tirelessly battling to bring Astiz to justice since the early 1980s), was shot and wounded by Astiz while attempting to escape (apparently Astiz mistook her for a Montoneros activist to whom she bore some physical resemblance, an acquaintance to fellow-activist Norma Susana Burgos, Dagmar's friend). Witnesses saw her later at the ESMA torture center and alleged that Alfredo Astiz was in charge of her interrogation. According to the Argentine Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs tasked to follow up Swedish complaints at the time of Hagelin's shooting and abduction, Captain Jorge Eduardo Acosta, the commander of GT332, stated that "letting her free is out of the question, we must not give in to public opinion. We must appear strong" – apparently due to the seriousness of the injuries caused by Dagmar's shooting that had rendered her paralyzed, also affecting her cognitive abilities. Inés Carazzo, then a detainee enslaved and regularly raped by Captain Antonio Pernias, another GT332 officer, claims Acosta ordered that Hagelin be put to death in a "death flight". Hagelin joined the ranks of the "disappeared" and is thought to have been killed and cremated at the ESMA. There is no direct evidence that Alfredo Astiz had any part in the affair after shooting and kidnapping Hagelin, but there is also no evidence of who killed her, who interrogated her or even if she was interrogated. Due to the very nature of "disappearances" cases, such evidences are notoriously hard to find, and explain why Astiz is charged of only a few of the crimes he is suspected of having carried out.

Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet, two French nuns, were members of a "desaparecidos" support group infiltrated by Astiz. A fake photo aimed at showing that they had been kidnapped by the Peronist letfist group Montoneros was leaked to the graphic media before their assassination. He kidnapped them in December 1977 and was witnessed torturing them by beating them, immersing them in water and applying electrified cattle prods to their breasts and into their genitals and mouths. Domon's body and those of the loved ones of the people the nuns were trying to console have never been found. Duquet's body was identified (along with that of Azucena Villaflor) by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (also known by their finding and identification of Che Guevara's corpse in Bolivia) in August 2005. <1>
(snip/...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Astiz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People should be reminded, also, whenever possible, that Cristina Fernandez's husband, Néstor Kirchner, was, himself, tortured by that same right-wing regime. (Also good to recall that Chile's President Bachelet, herself, was tortured by the U.S.-supported and engineered presidency of criminal mass murderer, Dictator Augusto Pinochet.)

[Evoman]

9. Hey U.S...please....STAY THE FUCK OUT OF LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS.

Please. Latin America is sick of American media, American funded Contras, America-funded dictatorships, and American funded Wars on Drugs.

Enough. If you need to pretend latin america doesn't exist, do so.

[Peace Patriot]

10. Bushite accusations are a good way to figure out what Bushites are DOING.

It's a good rule of thumb.

Bushites have funneled millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars through U.S. agencies like USAID/NED to the rightwing political opposition in Venezuela--for the regular elections and a recall election (with Chavez winning hands down in all cases), a coup attempt, an oil professionals' strike, and for staged protests and riots--and they are no doubt doing so in other democratic countries, like Bolivia and Ecuador--especially Bolivia right now. (And, interestingly, Hillary Clinton P.R. man, Mark Penn, was involved in false polls that were to be used as a spark to another rightwing military coup attempt in Venezuela this last year; James Carville was also involved in "advising" the wingers in Venezuela, and may have been paid through USAID.) But I'm sure that's just the visible part of the picture--bad enough as that is. Figure multi-millions, if not billions, in covert ops, in developing rightwing paramilitary death squads, and corporations like Blackwater, and in drugs/weapons trafficking, with the object of destabilizing these countries and toppling their democratic, social justice-minded governments.

So, what the Bushites are accusing the Chavez government of doing here--funding a political campaign in another country--is what the BUSHITES are doing on a grand scale. And this suitcase-full-of-money caper is no doubt a covert set up to make that point in the lapdog corporate press--PROJECTING their own vast corruption onto innocent parties.

We've seen this pattern ad nauseum from the Bushites. WHO is involved in developing WMDs and proliferating them around the world? Not Iraq, which was entirely subdued by the UN weapons inspectors. Not Iran, which abandoned their nuke program in 2003. But the BUSHITES, who sold chemical and other WMDs to Iraq under Bush I, who traded missiles for hostages with Iran (back during the Iran/Contra scandal), who support the dictatorship in Pakistan and its protection of the A.Q. Khan nuclear proliferation network, and now want to surround Russia with nuclear missiles.

WHO is creating the most WMD danger in the world? The Bushites! And they project this evil in their hearts onto others, to justify invading them and stealing their oil.

WHO was a coward and went AWOL during the Vietnam War? Bush Jr. And, of course, we saw them projecting this onto John Kerry--by funding wingers who said he didn't deserve the medals he got for bravery in Vietnam.

WHO is undemocratic? Hugo Chavez, elected in the most transparent voting system on earth? Or the Bushites, who have stolen at least two elections and have nothing but contempt for democracy and the rule of law? Their accusation that Chavez is a "dictator" would be hilarious if it weren't tied to schemes to assassinate Chavez and topple his DEMOCRATIC government. And the Bushites dare to call HIM undemocratic, while they support a REAL dictatorship which has arrested and jailed the political opposition in Pakistan--the biggest nuclear threat and the biggest terrorist threat on earth.

Any of us could name dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of Bushite projection of THEIR evil activities onto others--and often onto entirely innocent parties. My "rule of thumb" helps us to understand what, exactly, their evil schemes are. Take the chilling example of their accusation against Max Cleland, in the Georgia Senate race (in 2002, I believe). Cleland left three limbs in Vietnam. He is a paraplegic. They ran ads accusing him of being a "friend of Osama bin Laden." What does this tell us? It tells us yet more about Bush's--and Cheney's and Rove's--other Bushites'--cowardice. But it may also be telling us of THEIR friendship with Osama bin Laden. There is, in fact, considerable evidence that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda are a Bush Cartel creation. Add to this their PROJECTION of this accusation onto an entirely innocent party--Cleland--and you have to wonder about more than the "Big Lie" technique they are using. You need to look past the projection, into their souls, and ask, "Did they commit treason on 9/11?" There is a lot of evidence pointing that way. This "rule of thumb" on their projection helps you make that gut call that we sometimes need to make about our leaders: Are they honorable? Are they "wolves in sheep's clothing"? Are they just telling slick lies to get elected? Are they for-real? Are they liars? Etc.

People who would go that far--accusing a wounded Vietnam vet of being a traitor--are not honorable, and are likely traitors themselves.

WHO has ambitions of tyrannizing over South America? Chavez--or Rumsfeld, who calls Chavez a "tyrant"? Make your gut call on that one. We do have to make these feeling judgments, in an era in which, despite it being called 'the Information Age,' accurate, truthful information is hard to come by. Look at the evidence, of course--above all (because the "gut" can be wrong). The evidence overwhelmingly points to Rumsfeld as the would-be tyrant, and supports the innocence of the accused. Rumsfeld is the one who slaughtered a million innocent people to get their oil. Chavez is distributing the oil profits to the millions in Venezuela, and has killed no one.

[donsu]

12. kicking Rummy

nt