Cash envelopes and 'beat the shit out of him': Chats expose Buenos Aires security chief D'Alessandro
Argentine politics have been rocked by a series of Telegram chats leaked over the past three weeks, many appearing to show Buenos Aires Security Minister Marcelo D'Alessandro in the center of schemes involving judicial favors, bribery - and outright revenge.
Chats which first came to light on December 3, revealed a trip that D'Alessandro, 47, made with several right-wing allies on October 13 to Lake Escondido, a secluded property in the southwestern Argentine Andes owned by British billionaire Joe Lewis.
Lewis, 85, has defied repeated court rulings since 2009 ordering him to cease blocking a stretch of provincial road leading to the scenic lake, which has effectively cut off public access.
Besides D'Alessandro, the junket included high-profile public figures such as federal judges Pablo Cayssials, Julián Ercolini, Carlos Mahiques and Pablo Yadarola; Buenos Aires chief prosecutor Juan Bautista Mahiques (Carlos' son); former Intelligence Agency (AFI) officials Leonardo Bergroth and Tomás Reinke; and well as Clarín Group executives Pablo Casey (nephew of CEO Héctor Magnetto) and Jorge Rendo.
The chats also reveal an elaborate scheme to conceal the funding for the trip - which the participants reveal having been paid for by the Clarín Group.
Clarín is the country's dominant media and communications conglomerate - and its myriad publications have been staunch backers of Lewis' claims, as well as of the right-wing Together for Change opposition.
Together for Change (JxC) has been in opposition since late 2019, when a debt bubble "Macrisis" triggered by a freewheeling policy under then-President Mauricio Macri made Macri the first Argentine president in history to lose re-election.
A nice welcome
Later chats revealed that the group believed Airport Police (PSA) Director José Glinski to be behind initial reports of the “secret” flight - despite such information being in the public domain.
“Give me the pleasure of letting me have one of my units pick him up,” D'Alessandro winks at Judge Yadarola, “so I can beat the shit out of him.”
Judge Carlos Mahiques - a prominent member of the right-wing Opus Dei Catholic power group - suggests using allied media to “make an issue out of the idea of espionage in the PSA - making sure they know we'll fire heavy ammunition against them, so they had better not publish anything else.”
“I already let him (Glinski) know,” Clarín's Pablo Casey replies. “He asked me if I wanted to talk, and I told him that we'll cross paths sometime. I have the best jailhouse to give him a nice welcome with.”
D'Alessandro pledged in the chat to “dissolve the PSA” should he become the nation's Security Minister after elections next year.
Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta - a likely contender in the upcoming presidential primaries - has rebuffed calls to dismiss D'Alessandro.
Lyrics, bulletproof vests and dollar bills
Chats released on Thursday, dated last November, show D’Alessandro colluding with Silvio Robles - spokesman and right-hand of Supreme Court Chief Justice Horacio Rosatti - on strategies to favor the JxC caucus in its ongoing dispute with the ruling, center-left Front for All (FdT) over an open seat in the powerful Council of Magistrates (which oversees Argentina's federal judiciary).
“At 5 I’ll give you the lyrics so you can move it,” Robles assures him - followed by a list of arguments as to why Vice President Cristina Kirchner can't appoint Senator Martín Doñate to the Council (JxC is pushing to have hard-right Senator Luis Juez seated instead).
“Use it as your (idea),” Robles reminded him.
Other chats leaked yesterday show D’Alessandro chatting with former Macri-era Argentine Intelligence (AFI) number two Silvia Majdalani in October on ways to skirt regulations on a municipal bulletproof vest purchase from a firm with ties to her.
Majdalani and 37 other Macri officials were indicted in 2021 for their roles in warrantless surveillance against hundreds of public figures in Argentina during Macri's 2015-19 tenure.
Earlier chats feature Buenos Aires towing company owner Marcelo Violante, whose firm Dakota is one of two running the city's tow services since 1990 - under permits that expired in 2001.
“I have the 60 greens (US$6,000), and the 50,000 pesos (US$1,100 at the time) that Claudio owes you,” Violante explains to D'Alessandro in a July 11, 2019, chat.
“The two envelopes (with US$3,000 each) are open,” Violante worries. “Give it to him,” D'Alessandro replies.
Dakota reportedly pays the city a fee of around US$300 a month for the lucrative concession (equal to around 0.2% of the firm's tow revenues). The fee (55,000 pesos) has not been updated since 2014, when it was worth some US$6,500.
City legislators for the FdT - which hold only 19 of 60 seats in the municipal body (compared to 32 for JxC) - have called on D'Alessandro's to resign, and President Alberto Fernández has called for a federal investigation - though right-wing control of key Buenos Aires courthouses have made this unlikely.
At: https://argentina.detailzero.com/news/163911/More-chats-were-leaked-from-the-cell-phone-of-Marcelo-D%E2%80%99Alessandro-Buenos-Aires-Minister-of-Security.html
Five of the ten Argentine right-wing figures involved in the recent Telegram-gate, in which a number of chats show them discussing schemes involving judicial favors, bribery - and outright revenge.
But key Buenos Aires courthouses - as well as the Supreme Court - are largely stacked with Macri appointees or close allies however - making any prosecutions related to these chats unlikely.
