April 24, 2008

Another one bites the dust

Quico says: Another guilty plea in the unending saga that is Illegally - Diverting - Venezuelan - Public - Money - to - Illegally - Fund - Cristina - Kirchner's - Election - Campaign - And - Then - Illegally - Covering - Up - The - Whole - Thing-gate, the tri-national trifecta of treachery more commonly known as El Maletinazo.

This time, it's Rodolfo Wanseele's turn to take the fall: the guy'll be spending more time with his jail cell after pleading guilty to acting as an unregistered DISIP agent in the US. The chump never suspected that Guido Antonini was wearing an FBI wire as he tried to buy his silence about his infamous suitcaseful'o'cash.

The thing that gets me here is that Wanseele's not going down for, you know, offering Antonini $2 million in hush money. He's going down for doing so without registering as a foreign agent first!

The FBI's message seems to be something like: "I don't know what y'all get up to in South America, but we have rules and procedures for bribing people around here, mister!"

As usual, though, it's Weil who best expresses what we've all been thinking:


(Also, notice the headline the New York Times slapped on the story they took off the wire. Granted, this whole affair is particularly resistant to snappy headlinization, but "Smuggling Case"!?? These guys don't have the foggiest what this is about!)