August 12(LPAC)--A scandal that has erupted in Argentina, and is targetting President Nestor Kirchner and his wife, and Presidential candidate Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, carries the unmistakeable stench of the same Anglo-Dutch financier interests behind the BAE weapons trafficking cartel. For them, Kirchner is anathema, because of his continental leadership in forging the anti-IMF Bank of the South, and independent regional integration initiatives.

At the center of the scandal, which also involves Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is a murky Miami-based Venezuelan "businessman" Guido Antonini Wilson, one of whose associates is arms dealer Pedro Guerrero, "who has very intimate relations with Armor Holdings," according to the Argentine daily Infobae. Armor is the U.S. arms firm recently acquired by BAE.

The scandal erupted on Aug. 4, just prior to Chavez's scheduled visit to Argentina, after Antonini Wilson apparently talked his way onto a private plane chartered by the Argentine state oil firm ENARSA to transport three government officials, and four others from the Venezuelan oil firm PDVSA, from Caracas to Buenos Aires. When Antonini arrived in Buenos Aires, customs officials discovered that he was carrying a suitcase filled with $800,000. Some sources suspect that Antonini may have been traveling to Argentina on behalf of Armor, and that the funds were related to arms deals. He reportedly had traveled to Argentina several times in the past, always for very brief stays.

Although none of the Argentine government officials knew Antonini, one of them, Claudio Uberti, who is in charge of the Argentine government's relations with the Chavez government, and is also a very close collaborator of Planning Minister Julio De Vido, has been forced to resign. Antonini was not arrested and quickly left the country and is now back home in Miami.

All of this occurs just two months before the Oct. 28 Presidential elections, in which Senator Fernandez de Kirchner is the leading contender. Tensions between Argentina and Venezuela have heightened as a result of the incident, while the local political opposition--especially that linked to neo-liberal foreign banking interests--are screaming "corruption," charging that the cooperation between Kirchner and Chavez was clearly based on "dirty" financial machinations, and arguing that this will continue should Senator Fernandez be elected.