On August 4th 2007 a group of Argentinean’s and Venezuelans boarded a chartered jet in Caracas, Venezuela and headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This group was made up of 8 people: three Argentinean’s and five Venezuelans. Both with strong or peculiar links to their respective governments oil industries. Not to mention the fact that their trip also coincided with the visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Argentina. Little did they know that a piece of luggage that was being carried on their plane would soon become what currently could be considered the most famous piece of luggage in Latin America.
The piece of luggage that Venezuelan’s and Argentineans are colloquially referring to as "the suitcase." The three Argentineans in this chartered flight were of considerable repute. They were: Ezequiel Espinosa, President of the Argentinean state owned oil company ENARSA (Energía Argentina Sociedad Anónima); Claudio Uberti, head of the Argentinean toll authority; and Victoria Beresiu, a government official from the ministry of planning. Of the five Venezuelans in this flight three were executives that worked for PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.). These executives were; Nelly Cardozo, the current lawyer of the President of PDVSA; Ruth Behrens, the representative of PDVSA in Uruguay; and Wilfredo Avila, an executive of PDVSA. The remaining two Venezuelans were; Daniel Uzcategui Spetch, the 19-year-old son of the president of PDVSA Argentina; and a mysterious Venezuelan-American businessman named Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson.
ENARSA officials have stated that Antonini had been allowed to travel with the group of businessmen at Daniel Uzcategui’s request. ENARSA also stated that it was them who had paid for the chartered plane, and the Venezuelans were given a ride as a favor. Upon reaching Argentinean customs, the customs officials found a total of $790, 550 of undeclared cash inside Antonini’s suitcase. The Argentinean newspaper, Clarin, stated that the young Uzcategui was the only one of the group that waited for the 46 year old Antonini while customs performed their search. Antonini was later allowed to leave after customs officials confiscated the cash he was carrying. He however had the right to make a claim for about half the money. Antonini did not make use of this right and left the next day to neighboring Uruguay. The Uruguayan newspaper El Espectador stated that the PDVSA branch in their country paid for the hotel that Antonini stayed at while in Uruguay.
Uruguay was also the next stop that the Venezuelan president was making in his tour of the southern cone states. This further raised suspicion of corruption with Venezuelan officials from both the government and PDVSA. Some television news sources in Argentina even stated that an argentine customs agent said that Antonini had claimed to have had lunch with the Venezuelan president before making his trip. The government of Venezuela denied the allegation. When the news reached Venezuela there was also some bemusement as to how it was possible for Antonini to be carrying so much cash when Venezuela has very rigorous currency exchange controls. Antonini had clearly broken the law in leaving Venezuela with so much undeclared cash.
The Argentinean newspaper Clarin also stated that it was also discovered that the young Daniel Uzcategui had made a total of nine trips to Argentina with out Antonini. Two of these nine trips were also in chartered jets. Argentinean authorities also thus fear that other suitcases may have gone through unnoticed. There has also even been a picture published by the Venezuelan news magazine Zeta of Antonini and the Venezuelan Governor of Cojedes, Yánez Rangel, (a governor friendly to the current Venezuelan government) on a trip to a factory of prefabricated houses in Uruguay. Zeta also mentions that a Venezuelan newspaper called Notitarde ran story, about a a possible business relationship with the governor, backed by the declarations of a former member of the national assembly. The former member of national assembly Salomon Centeno, informed that Antonini had sold weapons to the Governor of Cojedes.
Although Antonini is not a PDVSA or government employee it appears that he has done a considerable amount of business with the aforementioned . As well spending a lot of time with them. The company that Antonini told the Argentinean custom agents that he worked for was Industrias Veneco, C.A. Here he has a job as a consultant for the vice-presidency of Industrias Veneco C.A, a private petrochemical company in Venezuela that has a lot of business deals with the Venezuelan government. The owner of this company, Carlos Kauffman in an interview with the Argentinean newspaper La Nacion , claimed that his company had no dealings in this strange matter.
Some distrust this and the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional has reported that the Venezuelan customs and tax agency SENIAT is considering auditing the petrochemical firm. Antonini is also apparently the head of various “briefcase companies” stated La Nacion.
These “briefcase companies” registered in Miami, Florida are companies that do not have any employees or offices. All they seem to have are mailing addresses. To add to the mystery no one in the Venezuela business sector seems to know much about Antonini. Only in Miami, where he has appeared to have his base of operations, have some business circles heard of him. Zeta has stated that those that had heard of him associated him and his associates as businessman with strong links to the current Venezuelan government.
Since the Argentinean judgement, Maria Luz Novatti, the woman in charge of the case, has called for his immediate arrest for fraud. Antonini has thus been a fugitive from the law for the past few weeks. It is believed that he went back to Miami, Florida and is currently hiding in the U.S. The warrant was issued after he re-entered the U.S. If this is in fact the case, the U.S authorities have the job of finding this fugitive within their borders.
The Venezuelan newspaper El Universal and its Argentinean counterpart La Nacion both claimed that he had just been arrested a few hours ago in Miami. The news, however, turned out to be fraudulent after the FBI said that no such person had been arrested in U.S territory.
There have been two important dismissals after this controversial incident. The Argentinean government has dismissed, Claudio Uberti, the head of tolls authority in Argentina and a man of considerable importance in the deals between PDVSA and the Argentinean government. Uberti was one of the three Argentinean passengers in the chartered jet.
The Venezuelan government tried to distance themselves at first from this controversial issue and ignored criticism. But after the Argentinean government put pressure on the Venezuelan government to dismiss the President of PDVSA Argentina in order for him to face the Argentinean tribunals investigating the case. The Venezuelan government asked Diego Uzcategui, the father of the 19 year old on the chartered jet and President of PDVSA Argentina, for his resignation. The Venezuelan newspapers El Nacional and El Nuevo Pais reported this.
Venezuelans and Argentineans are hoping that Antonini or “the man with the suitcase” will be arrested soon. The reason being that they hope to find out more about the petro-dollar corruption that seems to be taking place within their borders.
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