Trial begins for Venezuelan in alleged hush-money case

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

MIAMI (AFP) — The trial of a Venezuelan accused with four others of seeking to silence a US-Venezuelan national caught entering Argentina with a suitcase full of 800,000 dollars got under way here Tuesday.

Franklin Duran, three other Venezuelans and an Uruguayan living in the United States have been charged with urging US-Venezuelan national Guido Antonini Wilson to cover up the alleged aim of the money.

A US indictment claims the funds, allegedly from the government of Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, were headed for the electoral campaign of Cristina Kirchner, now Argentina's president. Kirchner denies the charges.

Antonini was carrying the cash with him on an August 4, 2007 flight from Caracas to Buenos Aires when Argentine customs officials...