Some think he is a traitor to the Bolivarian and Socialist Revolution. Others will treat him like a western neoliberal and democratic hero. And, of course, there will be people, like myself, who will regard him as a felon all the way.
I have known Aponte since 2003 when, as the armed forces principal attorney, he indicted more than one hundred Colombian paramilitary who infiltrated the country to spearhead a coup de etat against President Chavez. At the time, I was part of a team of legal advisers who reported to Aponte’s office. Afterwards, since January 2005, we both belonged to the group of twelve new magistrates (justices) appointed by the National Assembly to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which means that for more than nine years I have known the man.
Due to this knowledge, I can precisely say that he is no real traitor because he never had revolutionary principles, although he was very agile in climbing up the ladder in order to use his position to gather money for his own pockets. How he managed to do this for so long is something that has to do with his ability to accomplish favors for entrepreneurs, politicians and crime lords. This combination allowed him to amass money, make himself stronger and establish a network of criminal judges whom he selected with one hand from his privileged position and, when it was needed – when they were accused of wrongdoing – with the other hand trashed them.
Some people hinted or openly complaint about the criminal conduct of Aponte but they bounced from the wall of silence he had built around his “impeccable” behavior.
But stories like Aponte’s cannot go on forever. When the drug lord, Walid Mackled, was imprisoned, police found – among other things – he carried an identification card from the High Court that regarded Mackled as a security attaché of Magistrate Eladio Aponte. It was the tip of the iceberg, because later, authorities also found that, aside from being a cocaine trafficker, Mackled was also involved in assassinations – with Aponte part of the network built for his protection.
All of a sudden, Aponte went friendless. The web of acquaintances he had created, because of services rendered – most of them personal favors – vanished. So, when the General Attorney’s Office decided to start the official investigation that brought his dismissal from the post of Magistrate of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, he made his mind to flee the country, negotiate with the DEA and the State Department, find protection in exchange for his cooperation and live a smooth life where he and his female friend (not his wife) can spend the huge sums of money he has stashed in American banks.
We have to bear all this in mind every time we read Aponte’s interviews that appear in the world media. In all of them you will find elements of truth, yes, but also many names and facts seeded by people like Otto Reich and Roger Noriega whose target is the Bolivarian Revolution and the case they want to create in the Security Council of the UN in order to ask for sanctions to suffocate Venezuela.
Eladio Aponte speaks with a tremor in his voice because he has no proof of what he says – and never said anything before while he was part of it. He does not have any credibility at all. How can a felon have any?
Some think he is a traitor to the Bolivarian and Socialist Revolution. Others will treat him like a western neoliberal and democratic hero. And, of course, there will be people, like myself, who will regard him as a felon all the way.
I have known Aponte since 2003 when, as the armed forces principal attorney, he indicted more than one hundred Colombian paramilitary who infiltrated the country to spearhead a coup de etat against President Chavez. At the time, I was part of a team of legal advisers who reported to Aponte’s office. Afterwards, since January 2005, we both belonged to the group of twelve new magistrates (justices) appointed by the National Assembly to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which means that for more than nine years I have known the man.
Due to this knowledge, I can precisely say that he is no real traitor because he never had revolutionary principles, although he was very agile in climbing up the ladder in order to use his position to gather money for his own pockets. How he managed to do this for so long is something that has to do with his ability to accomplish favors for entrepreneurs, politicians and crime lords. This combination allowed him to amass money, make himself stronger and establish a network of criminal judges whom he selected with one hand from his privileged position and, when it was needed — when they were accused of wrongdoing — with the other hand trashed them.
Some people hinted or openly complaint about the criminal conduct of Aponte but they bounced from the wall of silence he had built around his “impeccable” behavior.
But stories like Aponte’s cannot go on forever. When the drug lord, Walid Mackled, was imprisoned, police found — among other things — he carried an identification card from the High Court that regarded Mackled as a security attaché of Magistrate Eladio Aponte. It was the tip of the iceberg, because later, authorities also found that, aside from being a cocaine trafficker, Mackled was also involved in assassinations — with Aponte part of the network built for his protection.
All of a sudden, Aponte went friendless. The web of acquaintances he had created, because of services rendered – most of them personal favors – vanished. So, when the General Attorney’s Office decided to start the official investigation that brought his dismissal from the post of Magistrate of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, he made his mind to flee the country, negotiate with the DEA and the State Department, find protection in exchange for his cooperation and live a smooth life where he and his female friend (not his wife) can spend the huge sums of money he has stashed in American banks.
We have to bear all this in mind every time we read Aponte’s interviews that appear in the world media. In all of them you will find elements of truth, yes, but also many names and facts seeded by people like Otto Reich and Roger Noriega whose target is the Bolivarian Revolution and the case they want to create in the Security Council of the UN in order to ask for sanctions to suffocate Venezuela.
Eladio Aponte speaks with a tremor in his voice because he has no proof of what he says – and never said anything before while he was part of it. He does not have any credibility at all. How can a felon have any?
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