Otra mas maleta-gate?

Back in August, the Venezuelan government was busted cold smuggling oil money to then-Argentinian-presidential candidate Christina Kirschner. (New York Times)

…the Venezuelan businessman, Guido Antonini Wilson, 46, was stopped with a suitcase stuffed with cash by an airport customs official after arriving in Buenos Aires from Caracas on a plane chartered by the Argentine government’s national energy company.

Of course Christina, the wife of then-President Nestor Kirschner, won the election. The incident, never completely explained, was referred to in the latin press as “Maleta-gate” – ‘maleta’ is Spanish for ‘suitcase’, the ‘-gate’ was borrowed from the countless norteamericano scandals that have been dubbed with the suffix since Watergate.

Now last night we find that another cash-filled suitcase from Venezuela was intercepted in Bolivia from Martin Arostegui of the Washington Times;

A mysterious Venezuelan air force flight came under attack from vigilantes when it touched down last week at an airfield in northern Bolivia amid fears that the transport plane was delivering weapons.

Suspicions were only deepened when officials confirmed that a Venezuelan banking official on board the flight had been carrying a briefcase stuffed with $160,000 in cash.

The airfield, at Riberalta, is located near a Bolivian uranium-mining area, adding to long-standing suspicions that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trying to purchase uranium from his Latin American neighbor for transshipment to Iran.

Riberalta is in Bolivia’s northern and eastern lowlands, where local officials are resisting efforts by President Evo Morales to concentrate more power in his central government, which is dominated by highland Indians.

In light of the parsing of the NIE report last week that claimed that Iran had no nuclear program, which has been thoroughly disputed by Chapomatic as well as Israeli and British intelligence, this could be fairly damning evidence of what many bloggers, including this one, have been warning about for months. Chavez, still stinging from his electoral defeat and the threat of a coup from his military commanders is anxious to rebuild his macho image, especially among his allies like Iran. 

Arostegui describes the scene at the Bolivian airport;

Bolivian government officials said the Venezuelan airplane, a C-130 bearing the registration number 9508, was making an “emergency” stop to refuel on its way to Brazil after delivering helicopter pilots, spare parts and telecommunications equipment to Bolivia”s Andean capital, La Paz.

But Ernesto Suarez, the governor of Beni province where Riberalta is located, said he had received reports that the plane was going to deliver “heavy armaments” to the city when it landed Thursday, and that a posse of citizens had been organized to see what was on board the plane.

When the posse led by the local civic committee was denied access to the aircraft, its members began pelting it with rocks. Mr. Suarez said the group managed to make a short video which showed the plane’s hold filled with cargo pallets and armed men.

So let’s see how Chavez’ government explains this. Meanwhile, back in the States, Chavez’ agent provocateur urges a frenzied crowd to execute the President.

Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez, Terror War