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Argentina: WSJ editorial on NIsman

The perfect title: Murder Most Foul in Argentina

In 2015 Mrs. Kirchner’s secretary of security immediately declared Nisman’s death an apparent suicide. That made little sense to those who knew Nisman, in part because he was hours away from presenting evidence to Congress that Mrs. Kirchner had made a deal with Tehran to cover up Iran’s responsibility for the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center that killed 85 people.

When President Mauricio Macri took office in December 2015 he pledged that investigators would have the independence to discover the truth. The Journal reported in September that “twenty-eight government forensic experts, toiling at a secret facility for seven months, concluded” that Mr. Nisman was killed. They handed their findings to a federal court.

On Tuesday in a 656-page opinion, Argentine federal judge Julián Ercolini ruled that “the death of Prosecutor Nisman was not a suicide, and was brought about by a third party and in a painful manner.” He charged Diego Lagomarsino, who was an aide to Nisman, as an accessory to the murder.

Will justice win?

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Argentina: Nisman was murdered

Three months after a panel of experts confirmed that Alberto Nisman was murdered, federal judge Julián Ercolini ruled on Tuesday that Mr Nisman’s gunshot wound could not have been self-inflicted.

Mr Ercolini also charged a former aide to the prosecutor, Diego Lagomarsino, as an accessory to murder.

Mr Lagomarsino was the last person in Mr Nisman’s apartment and the bullet that killed the prosecutor was fired by Mr Lagomarsino’s gun, the judge said.

Commentary thread at Twitter,

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Argentina: Experts’ report confirms Nisman was murdered

Via Mary O’Grady,

The official report from a team of forensic experts states that prosecutor Alberto Nisman was murdered. He was first beaten by two people and drugged with ketamine, which had not been previously detected.

Among the injuries from the beating, Nisman’s nose was broken.

According to the report, Nisman died at 2AM on Sunday, January 18, 2015 in the bathroom of his apartment.

Times of Israel:

Twenty-eight experts in different areas, from ballistics to psychology, determined that Nisman was murdered by a shot to the head, and that the murderer (or murderers) then attempted to cover their tracks at the scene of the crime, according to a report in the Argentine news site Infobae.

[link to Infobae article in Spanish]

The Tower:

The report also highlighted that only two footprints belonging to Nisman were found in his Puerto Madero apartment. This finding is inconsistent with Nisman’s activities on previous days, suggesting that the suspect or suspects carefully cleaned Nisman’s apartment before they left to cover any tracks.

Lastly, experts explained that the position and angle of the gunshot are not compatible with that of a self-inflicted wound, making it physically impossible for Nisman to have committed suicide that way.

The report was submitted to prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, now in charge of the case.

However,
Nisman: the Gendarmeria Boffins Report (emphasis added)

Taiano has requested that Ercolini order a reconstruction of the murder in Nisman’s actual flat. The flat has long since been rented out to someone else. The someone else in question doesn’t have any choice about cooperating with a federal judge but the paperwork might take time. What will happen then is that the gendarmes will act out their hypothesis with Ercolini and his staff present. It’ll be filmed as well. So when that’s done and not before Ercolini will decide whether he accepts the report of the gendarmeria experts.

Read the rest.

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Argentina: Did Iran poison Nisman?

The WSJ editorial board asks,
Nisman and the Iranians: Did the Islamic Republic poison an Argentine prosecutor? (emphasis added)

Monday that a new toxicology analysis on the body of the late Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman has discovered the drug ketamine, an anesthetic mostly used on animals. It is highly unlikely Nisman would have voluntarily ingested such a drug. He had been investigating Iran’s role in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center when he was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head in January 2015.

“There is a mountain of evidence in the case that indicates that it is a homicide; this would be one more,” said Mr. Sáenz, who worked to get the case moved to federal court last year so he could take over the probe.

In 2006 Nisman indicted seven Iranians and one Lebanese-born member of Hezbollah for the bombing, which killed 85. At the time of his death Nisman was a day away from testifying before the Argentine Congress about his more recent findings. He alleged that then-President Cristina Kirchner and her foreign minister Héctor Timerman had made a deal with Tehran to bury the matter in return for Iranian oil and Iranian purchases of Argentine grain.

Read the whole article.

I’ve been posting on this story for years: read the files here.

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Argentina: #Nisman was murdered

Alberto Nisman was found dead from a shot in the head in his Buenos Aires apartment on January 18, 2015.

His death has now been declared a murder:

Nisman was found dead one day before he was due to present a complaint to the Argentine Congress accusing leading politicians, including former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, of colluding with Tehran to cover up Iranian culpability for the atrocity. A team of investigators appointed by the Kirchner government concluded — following a controversial investigation that was heavily criticized by Nisman’s family — that the special prosecutor committed suicide using a gun supplied to him by Diego Lagomarsino, a computer specialist employed by Nisman.

But a new report from the Gendarmeria, a federal security force, will put the suicide theory to bed once and for all and show that Nisman was murdered, according to Argentine news outlets. The report’s publication is expected within the next thirty days, the Clarin newspaper said.

Eamonn MacDonagh asserts that this is a major development; long-time readers of this blog know that the case was being investigated as a suicide.

Much as Nisman himself experienced when he began investigating the accusations that President Kirchner had engaged in a cover-up of Iran and its Hezbollah proxy’s responsibility for the AMIA bombing, [prosecutor Eduardo] Taiano has also received threats and warnings not to pursue his inquiries. One text message he received in December last year told him to “stop f__g about with that son of a b__ Jew,” a reference to Nisman, and added, “your days are numbered.”

The complaint Nisman had been due to announce would have implicated Kirchner, former Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and other officials in negotiating a secret pact with the Iranians to absolve Tehran of the AMIA bombing. Nisman’s tenacious investigation — including a log of more than 4,000 monitored phone calls — strongly suggested that in doing so, Kirchner and her colleagues were trying to cover their tracks.

The article points out that “MacDonagh cautioned that numerous “legal roadblocks” could still be placed in front of the Nisman investigation.”

On her part, Cristina Kirchner announced that she’s willing to run for senator. It’s not clear whether, if elected, the post would grant her immunity from prosecution on any charges related to the Nisman murder case itself, or from charges arising from Nisman’s investigations.

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The Deplorables Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

In an attempt at demonizing any opposition, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tars the Trump supporters as deplorable and/or clueless, and later tried to walk it back, making what even Mexican media called a half apology.

ARGENTINA
Uber Drivers in Argentina Could Face 10 Days in Jail. Officials Raid Buenos Aires Offices and Plan to Charge them for Operating Without a Permit

Protesters Set Up 100 Soup Kitchens in Argentine Capital. What took them so long?

Nisman’s Iran case reaches new appeal stage

The efforts to reopen the complaint filed by late AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman against former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in January last year will continue this week with a hearing at an appeals court to determine if Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas had reason to deny such a petition from the DAIA Jewish community group last month.

In parallel, Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio has been making progress in an accusation of treason against Fernández de Kirchner and former foreign minister Héctor Timerman in relation to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran.

ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, COLOMBIA:
South America’s Drug Slums: Jurisdiction of Organized Crime

BELIZE
Belize will not support second probe into death of Guatemalan teen

BOLIVIA
Bolivia proposes prison time for illegal coca production

BRAZIL
Upcoming event at Cato: Brazillionaires: Wealth, Power, Decadence, and Hope in an American Country, September 13, 2016, 12:00PM to 1:30PM

If you can’t make it to the event, you can watch it live online at www.cato.org/live and join the conversation on Twitter using #Brazillionaires. Follow @CatoEvents on Twitter to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Rousseff Abandons Brazil’s Capital after Ouster

Brazil’s Attorney General Asks High Court to Allow Abortions for Women With Zika. Brazil’s attorney general is urging the nation’s Supreme Court to permit abortions for pregnant women infected with the Zika virus.

CHILE
Affluent Chile draws migrants but it’s no picnic for them

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s ELN rebels and paramilitary heirs scramble to occupy FARC territory

The Secret History of Colombia’s Paramilitaries and the U.S. War on Drugs. After decades of atrocities, the warlords were finally being held to account. Then the Americans stepped in.

Colombian Condemns Murder of Owner of FARC Transition-Zone Property

CUBA
Cuba’s Walled Garden

House panel will consider bill to halt Cuba flights next week

Sirley Ávila León Cuban Democracy Leader Disappears From Commercial Flight

ECUADOR
Ecuador Begins Drilling for Oil in Pristine Corner of Amazon

Sweden puts pressure on Ecuador over questioning Julian Assange

HAITI
Hillary Cares About You? Ask the Haitians She Ripped Off

JAMAICA
Prince Buster: Jamaica’s True Voice of the People

MEXICO
‘Wolf Boys’: 2 American teens become brutal hitmen for feared Mexican drug cartel

Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert. U.S. aluminum executives claim Liu Zhongtian, founder of Chinese metals conglomerate China Zhongwang, used a factory in Mexico to game the global trade system

PANAMA
Panama Papers: Denmark to buy leaked data

PUERTO RICO
Latin America’s Largest Sail Training Ship Docks in Puerto Rico

URUGUAY
Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmad Diyab, a.k.a. Abu Wael Dihab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab, is still at it:
Hunger-striking ex-Guantanamo inmate leaves Uruguay hospital

Uruguay searching for country to take ex-Guantanamo detainee (emphasis added)

Syrian native Abu Wa’el Dhiab has repeatedly said he is unhappy in Uruguay and is demanding he be allowed to leave the South American country, which took him in with five other former Guantanamo prisoners in 2014.
. . .
Although there’s nothing impeding Dhiab’s family from coming to Uruguay, the former prisoner is against it, Mirza said. “We’d have to ask ourselves why his family could not come to Uruguay when the families of other Guantanamo refugees came here when they wished.”
. . .
Dhiab also says that he feels like a prisoner in Uruguay.

A prisoner who traveled to Argentina, and through Brazil to Venezuela, that is.

VENEZUELA
FROM VOODOO ECONOMICS TO VOODOO

Almost 60 Percent of Venezuelans Say They Want Out



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Argentina: Cristina tweets on Nisman’s case against her

No, not on the investigation of Nisman‘s murder, but on the civil lawsuit Nisman brought against her:
Cristina Criticizes Attempts To Reopen Nisman’s Case Against Her. Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner took to Twitter to criticize further attempts to reopen a case that Prosecutor Alberto Nisman opened against her.

In a barrage of Tweets today, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner criticized yet another attempt to reopen a case investigating whether she covered up the role Iran could have allegedly played in the deadly 1994 AMIA bombing. The bid to reopen the case has already been rejected, but Cristina took to Twitter nonetheless to blame the Macri administration for instigating it.

Why, pray tell?

On January 18th 2015, Nisman was found dead in his apartment with a single gunshot to the head. It’s still unknown whether this was a suicide or homicide. He was set to appear before Congress to justify calling Cristina to the stand mere hours after he was killed.

Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas dismissed the case against Cristina in 2015. Then, in March, Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita requested reopening the case, but according to Rafecas, the case was already “closed and archived” and could not be opened again. Once the judiciary returns from recess next week, La Nación sources revealed days ago that a double strategy will be implemented. First, the DAIA (Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas) will ask for Judge Rafecas to de-archive the case. Second, Federal Chamber Prosecutor Germán Moldes will try to get the ruling that closed the investigation annulled.

We’ll see how this all turns out.

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O’Grady on Iran in Latin America UPDATED

Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do countries:

Iran’s Infiltration of Latin America. With U.S. influence waning, Tehran moves in, as a new report on Argentina shows. Mary O’Grady writes,

Joseph Humire, the executive director of the Washington, D.C., based Center for a Secure Free Society, uses thousands of documents and legal wiretaps released to the public to show how the prosecutor’s death eliminated a key stumbling block for Iran and “paved the way for [it] to move into a new phase of its information and intelligence operations in Latin America.” If the theocracy, which is the No. 1 state-sponsor of terrorism in the world, did not murder Nisman, it was the biggest beneficiary of his death.

The bottom line won’t come as a surprise to readers of this blog (emphasis added),

Authoritarian Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have welcomed the presence and influence of Iran. But others are being surreptitiously invaded, beginning with embassies, cultural centers and mosques. Peru’s southern rural communities are typical targets for launching networks. Front companies in the beef and oil industries in Brazil and Uruguay are used to provide cover for Iranian operatives. As for Chile, Mr. Humire’s report shows how Iran has infiltrated universities.

It’s not hard to see how the end of sanctions on Iran—triggering the liberation of $150 billion in assets and the reopening of international economic channels—will increase Iran’s penetration of the Western Hemisphere.

“Smart diplomacy”!

UPDATE
In other news, while we can still have them,

Government censorship: Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism Removed

Find the common thread between the three stories, if you may.

UPDATE
FBI, DOJ release new, full transcript of Orlando shooter’s 911 call

Andrew Klavan connects the terrorism dots in his podcast (24:30 into the podcast).

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