Lurid allegations of murder and drug smuggling have overshadowed the build-up to this weekend’s primary elections in Argentina as outgoing Argentine President Cristina Fernandez attempts to ensure a Peronist ally follows her to the Pink House.
The claims have been leveled against Argentine Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez, who a convicted gangster claimed was living a double life as a trafficking kingpin known as “the Walrus.”
The ruling camp said the story was fabricated by the opposition and the powerful Clarin media group — which has often clashed with Anibal Fernandez — in an attempt to dent the popularity of Peronist candidates ahead of today’s open party primaries.
Photo: AFP
The vote, in which Argentines can vote for any candidate from any party, will offer a gauge of public opinion ahead of the presidential election on Oct. 25.
Opinion polls suggest Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli, is ahead of his rivals. He is to run uncontested as the candidate of the ruling Frente Para la Victoria (Victory Front) today, while the conservative opposition alliance Cambiemos (Let’s Change) will see three candidates challenge for the nomination, including the frontrunner, Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri.
However, the campaign has been overshadowed by press reports claiming that the president’s right-hand man Anibal Fernandez masterminded the murder of three drug smugglers who triangulated the sale of vast amounts of the prescription drug ephedrine, which is used for the production of methamphetamine, between China and Mexico via Argentina in 2008.
Although press accusations of involvement with drug cartels have been raised before, these reached fever pitch this week after one of the criminals convicted for the triple murder alleged on the country’s most-watched television news program Periodismo Para Todos that it was then-Argentine minister of justice Anibal Fernandez who had given the order.
Speaking from prison, convict Martin Lanatta claimed Anibal Fernandez ordered the killings to elbow his way into the profitable business.
“The ephedrine-smuggling business ended up entirely in the hands of Anibal Fernandez with intelligence people,” Lanatta said.
He and another witness linked to the drug ring, Jose Luis Salerno, claimed Anibal Fernandez was known under the code name “the Walrus” because of his abundant mustache.
The Cabinet chief has denied the accusations.
“I’m leading the polls,” said Anibal Fernandez, who is running for governor of Buenos Aires Province in the October elections. “They’re trying to keep me from becoming governor.”
The more sober side of the campaign has focused on the extent to which the next president will continue the president’s policies of the past 12 years, particularly with regard to workers’ rights, fighting inequality, controls on the economy and relations with international financial markets.
Macri has promised a change of direction in government, including more policies more friendly toward businesses.
Scioli is considered a relatively moderate figure inside the Peronist movement, but he has adopted a leftist stance in campaign speeches, praising trade unions and pledging increased spending on public projects and education.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was