Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Maria Lujan Telpuk, a Buenos Aires airport police officer, was X-raying luggage at 2:45 a.m. on Aug. 4 when she spotted the suitcase. Her machine showed it was ``packed with perfect rectangles of very high density.''
When Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Florida businessman arriving from Caracas, opened the bag at her insistence, it revealed bundles of U.S. cash. ``He said, `There might be about $60,000,''' Telpuk, 27, recalled in an interview. ``I freaked out.'' He was lying or mistaken. Authorities who seized the valise counted $790,550.
The incident sparked a scandal that has exploded into an international imbroglio. The U.S. last month accused five men of being clandestine agents for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government. Their alleged mission: to cover up Venezuela's attempt to deliver the cash to the presidential campaign of Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
The charges have inflamed the U.S.'s already antagonistic relations with Chavez and sidetracked its efforts to court Fernandez after her Oct. 28 victory. The U.S. ``sincerely hoped for warmer relations'' with Argentina, said former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega. If the accusation is proved, ``they will continue to deteriorate,'' and it ``will impact President Fernandez's ability to govern with any credibility.''
At the center of the storm is Antonini, 46, a dual U.S.- Venezuelan citizen. The U.S. said the Venezuelan agents for months tried to entice or coerce Antonini into a scheme to neutralize the scandal's threat to Fernandez's election. President Chavez long has pursued closer ties with Argentina, wooing Nestor Kirchner, Fernandez's predecessor and husband, with billions of dollars in loans.
$1.3 Million Condo
To contact the reporters on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net ; Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires eraszewski@bloomberg.net ; Bill Faries in Buenos Aires at wfaries@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: January 7, 2008 23:34 EST
When Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Florida businessman arriving from Caracas, opened the bag at her insistence, it revealed bundles of U.S. cash. ``He said, `There might be about $60,000,''' Telpuk, 27, recalled in an interview. ``I freaked out.'' He was lying or mistaken. Authorities who seized the valise counted $790,550.
The incident sparked a scandal that has exploded into an international imbroglio. The U.S. last month accused five men of being clandestine agents for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government. Their alleged mission: to cover up Venezuela's attempt to deliver the cash to the presidential campaign of Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
The charges have inflamed the U.S.'s already antagonistic relations with Chavez and sidetracked its efforts to court Fernandez after her Oct. 28 victory. The U.S. ``sincerely hoped for warmer relations'' with Argentina, said former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega. If the accusation is proved, ``they will continue to deteriorate,'' and it ``will impact President Fernandez's ability to govern with any credibility.''
At the center of the storm is Antonini, 46, a dual U.S.- Venezuelan citizen. The U.S. said the Venezuelan agents for months tried to entice or coerce Antonini into a scheme to neutralize the scandal's threat to Fernandez's election. President Chavez long has pursued closer ties with Argentina, wooing Nestor Kirchner, Fernandez's predecessor and husband, with billions of dollars in loans.
$1.3 Million Condo
To contact the reporters on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net ; Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires eraszewski@bloomberg.net ; Bill Faries in Buenos Aires at wfaries@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: January 7, 2008 23:34 EST
