CARACAS, Wednesday October 08, 2008 | Update
According to US prosecution witnesses, the USD 800,000 seized from Guido Antonini Wilson came from Venezuelan state oil giant Pdvsa (File Photo / AP)
Politics
Argentinean authorities described as "coercion and bribery"
the asylum and job offer in the United States that FBI agents
allegedly made to former police agent María Luján
Telpuk, who discovered the USD 800,000 that Venezuelan-American
businessman Guido Antonini Wilson supposedly tried to
smuggle into Argentina in August 2007.
Argentina's Minister of Justice, Aníbal Fernández,
was asked about the statements made by Luján, who asserted
that agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
made her an asylum and job offer in exchange for changing
her attestation in a trial held in Miami in connection with
the so-called "suitcase affair," EFE reported.
"In Argentina, these agents would be in prison for coercion
and bribery," said Minister Fernández, who complained
that "the great names of the Argentine journalism do not see
these irregularities, but want to besmirch the name of Argentina."
11:00 AM. Economy. Based on the official data, more and more families failed to get out of poverty in 2008; the exclusion status of more people moved faster and fewer people are on their way to overcome this situation. According to the data provided by the official National Statistics Institute (INE), last year the poorest homes in the country recorded an average monthly income of USD 401.82, whereas the food basket amounted to 417.77