Versión Español
The Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt organized a meeting with the father of the interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, in the former’s luxurious castle in Toledo, Spain, to get Rudy Guiliani to mediate in Betancourt’s favor. Last week, Reuters reported about this meeting, and now the PanAm Post has access to audiovisual material confirming the presence of Guaidó’s father in Betancourt’s castle.
According to Reuters, Betancourt invited Guiliani, Trump’s personal lawyer to his residence, Alamín Castle, so that Guiliani would speak favorably about him at the State Department in the United States where the Venezuelan “bolibourgeoisie” under investigation for cases of corruption related to embezzlement through contracts with Chavismo in Venezuela.
Betancourt took Juan Guaidó’s father, Wilmer Guaidó, for the meeting as a gesture of goodwill. According to Reuters, the “bolibourgeoisie” wanted to show Rudy Guiliani that he finances the interim government of Juan Guaidó.
“Betancourt told Giuliani that he secretly helped bankroll Guaidó’s efforts to take over the leadership of Venezuela, according to four people familiar with the situation, two of whom provided details about the meeting in Spain,” reads the Reuters report.
Venezuelan journalist Alek Boyd also reported about the meeting. On January 22nd, he published the following in his newspaper Infodio: “Guaidó’s father, Wilmer, was also present at the meeting with Parnas and Giuliani… This is neither newsworthy nor surprising… Guaidó’s presence at a meeting with Giuliano had a purpose. Betancourt wanted to show that he is part of Guaidó’s inner circle.” As early as January 9, before the Reuters article, Boyd had said on twitter, “Mr. Juan Guaidó: I would like to comment on the presence of Gustavo Guaidó and your father, Wilmer Guaidó, at a meeting between Rudy Giuliani and Alejandro Betancourt at El Alamín.”
The PanAm Post has access to a video which, according to the source, was recorded to demonstrate Guaidó’s father’s presence at the castle to prove that the “bolibourgeoisie” has ties with the Venezuelan opposition. An important news agency in the United States owns the video.
“Betancourt hoped that those bona fides would enable Giuliani, his lawyer, to persuade Trump’s Justice Department to drop its probe of Betancourt in connection with a Florida money laundering and bribery case,” according to Reuter’s sources.
According to Reuters, several weeks after the meeting, Guiliani urged Justice Department lawyers to act calmly in the Betancourt case. Reuters has statements from an anonymous source and Guiliani’s former partner, Lev Parnas.
According to this report, published a few weeks ago, Betancourt sold Guiliani the narrative that he was collaborating with Juan Guaidó, thus helping Donald Trump’s primary ally in Venezuela.
Alejandro Betancourt was one of the businessmen who became wealthy through contracts with the Chavista regime. In his first project, signed on behalf of his company, Derwick Associates, he got 12 contracts: 6 with Corpoelec (the state-owned corporation in charge of the electricity sector in the entire country, and which today, is responsible for the devastation of the electricity system and the service), 5 with the state-owned oil company PDVSA (also going downhill), and a contract with the Venezuelan Guyana Corporation (CVG).
Today, Betancourt lives in Spain and has been sued on several occasions. The former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Otto Reich, was one of those who even filed a lawsuit against him. So did the president of the Human Rights Foundation, Thor Halvorssen, who alleges that Betancourt and other Derwick executives paid a bribe of 50 million USD to Diosdado Cabello.
Wilmer Guaidó told Reuters he did not meet Betancourt. “I only support my son like the whole family against that criminal dictatorship but I have not met anyone,” he said.
