Federico Machado, indicated in Argentina to have financed electoral campaigns in Guatemala, was in the country between 2016 and 2020, and met with then President Jimmy Morales, government officials and mayors, to present them to investors and projects in the national territory.
Machado went out to the public eye on February 12, for the accusations made by Argentine deputy Rodolfo Tailhade, who pointed out to have links with drug trafficking and had washed more than US $ 550 million for the Sinaloa cartel.
Interviewed by Press Libre, Machado denied the accusations made by the USA. And maintains a legal battle in Argentina to avoid extradition to that country.
The Argentine said that he arrived in the country at the invitation of Guatemalan officials, and in the interview he explained what were the businesses in which he tried to intervene and with whom he met.
Mining Project
According to Machado, his first meeting with Morales was at the Guatemala Consulate in Washington DC, the last week of February 2016, a day after the then president met with US officials.
In April of that year, Machado arrived in Guatemala and was received by Eddy López, then commissioner for foreign investment in the National Competitiveness Program of Guatemala (Pronacom).
“Eddy López wanted to bring investment to his country and introduces me to Luis Velásquezof the National Mortgage Credit of Guatemala (CHN), ”Machado recalled.
According to his story, in 2017, Velásquez took him to land located in Tahuexco, Champerico, Retalhuleu, but did not interest the Argentine.
Then, Velásquez would have taken him to a farm in Alta Verapaz, on December 28, 2017. Machado, during his tour, observed a tributary, an area where coffee was grown and the remains of a track designed for small aircraft, place where in 1999 six people died in an accident.
Machado’s interest in that place responded to the fact that, about five kilometers, in the upper part of the Polochic river basin there were minerals such as copper, zinc and lead to explode.
Machado acknowledged that his team began the efforts to buy that property, for which they finally paid around US $ 500 thousand – one Q4 million.
“With the bank – Chn – we began to manage a type of rent, because they could not sell the property; He had invasion problems. I made a payment of Q1.2 million as a guarantee and for the permit, but in 2020 they returned it to me, ”said Machado.
Machado did operate the farm and installed the company Minas del Pueblo, with a license of exploitation issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
At that time, who served as the Purchasing Manager of Mines del Pueblo, who asked not to mention his name in this article, commented that he does not remember the agreements with the CHN for the rent of the farm, where the entrance to the employer’s house was and one of the paths that connected to the project PEOPLE MINES.
Machado said that a consultation was made to the communities near the mine and after presenting all the documents to the government authorities authorized the exploitation operations.
Denial
The former president of the CHN Luis Velásquez, consulted about what was declared by the Argentine, commented that, during his management, between April 2016 and January 2018, there was never a negotiation for sale or rental of the property. Instead, he emphasized that, without resolution, no person could have entered the property or exploit their businesses.
He said that at the end of 2016, he received notification that there were several people interested in that farm that was previously owned by the Kabir company.
He explained that the potential clients asked to speak with him and attended them, along with managers and other members of the bank.
“I have never seen any document that he,” muttered, “they have given him that,” the farm. I cannot deny or affirm, because I don’t remember seeing a document. It may be that the following authorities have given him something, that there has been a resolution, ”replied the former president of the CHN.
Velásquez ended communication with this media indicating that his management in the bank was the most successful of the last 30 years.
Meeting at Casa Presidential
The second meeting between Morales and Machado was held in the presidential house, at the end of 2016, according to the Argentine.
“I already knew the president – Jimmy Morales – and Eddy López was looking for investors in Guatemala. I knew some businessmen in Miami, and I was the intermediary to present them, ”Machado said.
At the discretion of Machado, and with documents to which he had free press access, the entrepreneurs presented the “Interoceanic Ppeline” project.
The ambitious public-private work intended to build a 304-kilometer pipeline to transport crude oil from Izabal to Santa Rosa.
“These Miami businessmen, who were half sell smoke, tell me: we have the economic capacity, we have an Arab group behind. I did not have the phone of —Jimmy – Morales, but they made me contact to talk to the president that time, ”said Machado.
The work would generate at least 1,500 jobs during construction and permanently would be 335, according to the initial documents.
“The estimated total cost of the project was US $ 3.3 billion; A single country pipeline to connect Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, improving trade between the Americas and the booming Asian markets, ”he explained.
He added that, finally, businessmen could not do anything, because some of the areas where the pipeline would pass were private property.
On Machado’s relationship with the government between 2016 and 2020, former president Jimmy Morales avoided commenting and just replied: “Stop dreaming of me.”
López, the Commissioner for Foreign Investment of Morales, did not respond to messages and calls to know his position.
A new port
That was Machado’s first attempt to boost a mega work with Eddy López and Jimmy Morales and months later another project would be presented with the company Dubai Ports World.
At Machado’s discretion again made the link with López, the Commissioner for Foreign Investment, for a meeting.
“Eddy -López- tells me: so come, tomorrow, to come tomorrow we go to a port,” he said.
He added that they went to Puerto Barrios evaluated the area, but an agreement could not be made, due to there was no legal framework to expedite the constructions in the country.
“So the entrepreneurs, just as they came left,” he acknowledged.
The train
The third work proposal was the construction of a train and Machado was also the intermediary between the government and investors.
Again, entrepreneurs bet to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, this time with trains.
That meeting was in 2016 and the documents detail that it would enable the Ferrea line that goes from Izabal to Escuintla and later a line from Escuintla to the border of Tecun Human, San Marcos.
“In 2016 I met with the mayor of Ayutla, San Marcos, – –Erick Zuñiga– And he showed his support, ”said Machado.
Zuñiga was accused by the United States of crimes related to drug trafficking and on December 19, 2019, the Drug Control Administration (DEA) was delivered.
The proposal of that other mega work detailed that America had four interoceanic connectivity lines distributed. A line in Canada, two lines in the United States and the Panama Channel and bet in investing in Guatemala for their geographical position
The Manatí Tower
The idea of building a building on the Caribbean coast arises between Machado and Hugo Sarceño, the Palde de Puerto Barrios, Izabal.
Machado said that he had paid a company to design the plans of the Manatí tower, which was intended to be built in the Bay of Amatique, Santo Tomás de Castilla, Puerto Barrios.
This project would become the largest vertical real estate of the Caribbean coast and unique in its class in the tourist municipalities that border the Gulf of Honduras, investors indicated in 2019.
According to Arbitrare, a company that marketed the project, were going to invest US $ 15 million and would have more than 25 thousand square meters of construction, 37 floors and 140 meters high, becoming the highest tower in the country and the first built outside the perimeter of the capital.
Gastón Machado, brother of Federico Machado, also appeared as an entrepreneur and would be the one in command of construction.
“I stopped seeing my stepbrother when we were children, but one day he finds me on social networks and tells me that he is working in the construction sector. I tell him that I was in Guatemala and we planned to make a building, ”Federico Machado said.
Gastón Machado declared to the media in 2019 that Guatemala remains a country of high attraction and proud to invest in the Manatí tower, which would bring a high impact on the economy of the communities.
The work never started, because the presale and launch had been scheduled for March 20, 2020 and, according to Federico Machado, it was suspended when the first case of Covid in Guatemala was detected, on March 13 of that year.
In addition, Federico Machado acknowledged that he left the country on March 12, 2020 towards Cancun, Mexico, and returned on September 18 of that same year, at the time when the United States agencies notified him that they were investigating him for possible links with drug trafficking.
Machado case
According to the digital medium Insight Crime Federico Machado, he is an Argentine aviation magnate who managed Help drug traffickers from all over Latin America To look for aircraft for drug transfer.
Machado was the owner of two Aviation companies in Florida, USA and was formally accused on February 26, 2021 by the Court of the East District of Texas, along with seven other people, for the alleged purchase and illegal registration of airplanes in the name of foreign signatures and citizens for export to other countries.
During a plenary session in the Argentine Congress, on February 12, Deputy Rodolfo Tailhade spoke of the links of legislator José Luis Espert with businessman Federico Machado, and in turn, his links with drug trafficking, which favored the Sinaloa cartel, which washed more than US $ 550 million.
Part of that money, according to Tailhade in the Argentine Congress, was destined to finance electoral campaigns in Guatemala.
Machado during an interview with Press Libre said the Tailhade signs were false.
They do not investigate it
The Prosecutor’s Office of Electoral Crimes said that it has no investigation opened for the alleged financing of machado to local politicians.
“While it is true, a few days ago, some statements expressed by an Argentine deputy circulated, in which he addressed the possible link between different political characters, it is also true that the case investigated in a timely manner and on the initiative of the Prosecutor’s Office serves as a parameter to establish that not all the information embodied in newspaper articles or that circulates in social networks, claiming to be true, is truthful,” said the prosecution.