Scandal Erupts Over Cash-Stuffed Case
Thursday August 9
By Bill Cormier, Associated Press Writer
Scandal Over Cash-Stuffed Suitcase Creates Uproar in Argentina, Venezuela
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070809/argentina_venezuela_cash_suitcase.html?.v=2
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine official resigned Thursday after a Venezuelan businessman was found carrying about $800,000 in undeclared cash on a government-chartered flight, the latest scandal to rock President Nestor Kirchner’s administration.
Claudio Uberti, who ran a regulatory body for Argentine toll roads, was asked to resign after he let the businessman join an official Argentine delegation on the flight chartered by state energy company Energia Argentina, Planning Minister Julio De Vido said. Uberti agreed to step down.
Argentine authorities say Venezuelan businessman Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson was stopped early Saturday by customs authorities at a Buenos Aires airport after they found $790,555 in one of his suitcases.
Officials so far have given no explanation of why Antonini Wilson might have had the cash or what sort of business he is in.
The discovery also created political waves in Venezuela, where the head of the tax and customs agency, Seniat, said it had opened an investigation.
Jose Vielma Mora said Venezuelan law prohibits carrying more than $10,000 in cash and such a sum should have been declared upon leaving. He said the Venezuelans aboard the chartered flight were not part of President Hugo Chavez’s entourage during a recent visit to Argentina.
Local reports said Antonini Wilson wasn’t detained and left Argentina on Monday. His whereabouts remained uncertain.
In Venezuela, public voter records show Antonini Wilson is registered to vote at the Venezuelan consulate in Miami, suggesting he lives there.
The discovery of the cash-filled suitcase and subsequent resignation of Uberti marked the latest in a series of corruption scandals beleaguering Argentina’s center-left government.
Last month, Kirchner’s economy minister, Felisa Miceli, was fired after $61,000 in Argentine and U.S. currency was found in a brown bag in her office bathroom. Officials from a gas regulatory agency and the public works ministry resigned earlier amid a bribery scandal.
On Thursday, Kirchner defended his administration, vowing to get to the bottom of events.
“I don’t cover anything up. When something happens, the people find out as they should find out and we take the corresponding measures,” he said.
Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is the front-runner to succeed her husband in the Oct. 28 presidential election.
Chavez offers Equador refinery help
JEANNETH VALDIVIESO, Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070810/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/latin_america_chavez;_ylt=AjEpSK2A9mRvf.wlHCvzXCVvaA8F
Thu Aug 9, 8:17 PM ET
QUITO, Ecuador - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered Thursday to help Ecuador build a $5 billion oil refinery, as the socialist leader pledged to spread his government’s oil wealth to another South American ally.
Chavez is on a four-country regional tour, seeking to expand his nation’s influence by leveraging its vast oil reserves and create a “grand South American alliance” to counter U.S. dominance.
The Venezuelan leader arrived in Ecuador after stops in Argentina and Uruguay. In Buenos Aires, he announced plans to buy up to $1 billion in Argentine bonds, while in Uruguay he discussed ways to expand its lone oil refinery and guarantee access to Venezuelan oil and gas. His next stop is Bolivia, where his ally Evo Morales is president.
On Thursday, Chavez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa signed an agreement for construction of a giant oil refinery on Ecuador’s Pacific coast expected to cost nearly $5 billion.
Chavez stressed the importance of energy integration in South America and remarked in a news conference on the difference between his efforts and “the savage hand of imperialism” in Iraq, referring to the United States.
The United States is like “Count Dracula,” he said. “It wants to suck (the blood) of the world.”
Correa, an admirer of Chavez, said the Venezuelan leader was acting out of solidarity with countries in the region and had no interest in earning a profit from the cooperation.
“Venezuela is the one that is pushing hardest for energy integration and it is one that least needs it,” Correa said.
Chavez and Correa signed an agreement to begin technical studies on the refinery, which would process 300,000 barrels of oil a day. The agreement contemplates the possibility of adding a petrochemical plant at an estimated cost of $10 billion.
The leaders did not say how much each country would contribute to the project, noting that it would depend on the feasibility studies. They said construction of the refinery, to be located in the Pacific port of Manta, would begin next year and take four to five years to finish.
Ecuador currently produces 535,000 barrels a day of oil. But with limited refining capacity, it must export crude oil and import fuels at much greater cost to cover its needs.
Chavez has also spoken of $500 million in as-yet-unspecified financing for Ecuador, probably by purchasing Ecuadorean bonds.
Although Chavez is a popular figure in Ecuador, some are concerned about Ecuador’s close relations with Venezuela.
“It would be tragic and dangerous if we went from a supposed dependency on the United States to being dependent on Venezuela,” investment analyst Ramiro Crespo said.