LatinNews Daily - 19 May 2011

Argentina: On 12 December the US Federal Bureau of Investigations declared that Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Venezuelan arrested while trying to smuggle US$790,000 into Buenos Aires, intended the money as a campaign contribution for Argentina's new president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The US government sought to downplay the accusation, with the US State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, emphasising that the case is a US legal matter rather than a foreign affairs issue. However Fernández dismissed the charges as a "trashing operation", with Argentine cabinet chief Alberto Fernández more explicit in his anti-US stance. He accused the US of exploiting the Antonini Wilson case to jeopardise the "good relations between Latin American countries".