Sergio Schoklender: one man's trap

Aircrafts "tuned" to precipitate to the ground, explosive devices conveniently and carefully set up in cars to explode at the right time, lofty ministers removed at a stroke by mysterious cocktails stirred in a seemingly innocent cup of coffee are not necessarily script fragments of a foreign film production. Reportedly, episodes such as these also nourish the least explored facets of Argentina’s politics. However, differences can be accounted for on how the different "working teams" operate locally, when compared with their counterparts abroad. Those acquainted with the atmosphere will cite the former Soviet KGB, whose most refined elements and operators -today within the FSB or Federal Security Bureau- were duly recognized as "the world's best poisoners"; well trained to make a better use of a score of undetectable substances after any autopsy.

How much is a life worth? Not much, if it is scrutinized from a perspective only limited to the person's physical existence. In fact, its price starts climbing up once the dimension of the secret to be protected is actually acknowledged.

In all probability, as soon as Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide achieves his personal aim of imprisoning Sergio Schoklender, he will have started up -conscious or unconsciously- a clockwork mechanism that could perfectly well end in the physical disappearance of Hebe María Pastor de Bonafini’s former partner.

Sergio has no doubt about what could happen to him in the courtyard of any prison in the country. That's why he -quickly- did not miss a second to appear before Clarín newspaper’s reporters to give away a free sample of what might represent the most explosive political event of Argentina’s last thirty years of history. Schoklender’s message on the table was clear: "Please know that I know".

Hebe Pastor’s former partner is in optimal conditions to refer endlessly to National Government subsidies granted to social organizations and "human rights" organizations used -mentioning one case- to mount profitable construction-related business. He could mention in detail the money laundering engineering required to launder hundreds of millions of in-coming dollars. If willing, he could speak at length about funding received by Madres and the like from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s government and, why not, Iran. Behind that curtain, valuable data could be reported on the operations of sinister characters from Colombian’s FARC guerrillas and their supporters who have participated in the kidnapping and subsequent assassination of former Paraguayan president’s daughter, Cecilia Cubas. One issue would lead to many others, equally eternal and painful. In this regard, a serious investigation could end in Kirchnerists’ political pressures and the Supreme Court’s connivance to hinder the extradition of ETA guerrilla member, Josu Lariz Iriondo and his Chilean fellow Sergio Galvarino "Apablaza Guerra", once a valuable element from Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front. A snapshot in which Judge Eugenio Zaffaroni, who has never hidden his political militancy in favour of the ruling party’s ideology and aims, also comes to the forefront. Finally, the signing of Presidential Decree by "irresponsibly"disappeared Nestor Carlos Kirchner, forbidding intelligence work on "social organizations"and clusters nucleated in the capitalist  human-rightism many of which ended up engaged in dangerous drugs trafficking, will reap great interest. In what would constitute an "orgy of evidence", the lawyer could also shed light on the multimillionaire system of subsidies and allowances granted to the alleged victims of "State terrorism", a monumental embezzlement exceeding several billion dollars and of which judges and lawyers who have never received less than thirty percent for carrying out "the management" participate. Needless to say, everything aforesaid is restricted to the well-oiled assembly of a remarkable and sinister conspiracy. Something that would be qualified in the United States of America, at least, as very serious conspiracy.

Mentioning the great northern country is not casual. It is worth remembering the official report from the Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (The 9 / 11 Commission Report), which warned in one of its passages about al Qaeda elements presence conjoined with organized crime of different ethnic groups operating in the area of the so-called Triple Border shared by Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. That geography is not bursting with innocence -as some would like you to believe- and neither is it true that more spies than real terrorists swarm around there. In any case, the best researchers can do nothing to blow up the closed Arabic and Oriental community systems operating there. And the black money financing terrorist attacks around the globe exhibits very good health. Informed readers will remember the occasion in which just after the World Trade Center attacks, neocon Undersecretary Douglas Feith suggested -in a secret meeting- postponing the attack on Afghanistan and replacing it with surgical precision strikes on the border shared by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay to surprise Al Qaeda and cut off its financing arm. Feith was not insane: he held compartmented information which led him to propose that scenario.

In virtue of reports stating that Sergio Schoklender himself visited that region more than twenty times, U.S. government could conclusively back up the need of requesting his extradition. In Washington, countless officials and senior military and intelligence officers would like to get hold of the information that former representative of Madres de Plaza de Mayo could give them. In the process, his safety could be granted, for example, as a federal government protected witness under WITSEC. Precisely, this is what Argentina is not able to offer.

Sergio Schoklender is neither a saint nor an enlightened person. At best, he is a sort of vernacular Lee Harvey Oswald. But there are plenty of arguments to defend the need of safeguarding his life, if only to keep him ad eternum under appropriate custody as a first level informant. His mind -twisted, as many people think- holds the key to turn Argentina into a predictable and reliable nation. Due note of the "Human Rights Gate" could be taken so that such a fraud is not repeated in the future.

This could represent a golden opportunity for opposition members in Parliament. Of course, this is not about granting Madres’ former representative impunity in exchange for information. Rather, the goal should be to protect him so that he can share his deep knowledge with suitable delegates, that is, if they exist; and if they are able to understand the importance of what their hands are holding.

* Translated into English by Débora Gravano Jordán - debora.gravano @ gmail.com