Smartmatic: all things connected

London 14.0.05 | The Florida register of companies contains details of the board of directors of Smartmatic Corporation, which is formed by Antonio Mugica, Alfredo Anzola, Antonio Mugica Rivero, Roger Piñate, Antonio Mugica Sesma and Luis Feliu [1]. Its principal place of business is 1001 Broken Sound Parkway, NW, STE D, Boca Raton, FL 33487. The company's history in Venezuela dates back to seven years ago when the venture was "the Research and Development Unit of Panagroup in Venezuela" (sic) and in "2000 we realized the true impact of our technology in the growing device-networking market, and we emerged as an independent company" (sic) [2]. The Miami Herald reported on Friday May 28, 2004 [ F2 EDITION]:

"A large and powerful investor in the software company that will design electronic ballots and record votes for Venezuela's new and much criticized election system is the Venezuelan government itself... Venezuela's investment in Bizta Corp., the ballot software firm, gives the government 28 percent ownership of the company it will use to help deliver voting results in future elections, including the possible recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez, according to records obtained by The Herald... Until a year ago, the Bizta Corp. was a struggling Venezuelan software company with barely a sales deal to its name, records show. Then, the Venezuelan government -- through a venture capital fund -- invested about $200,000 and bought 28 percent of it" (sic).

Further the Herald also shed light upon shareholders and registered addresses of both Smartmatic and Bizta thusly:

Three companies will build and execute Venezuela's new touch-screen voting system. Two are incorporated in Florida, though neither does most of its business here.

* Smartmatic Corp., which will build the machines, incorporated in Florida in 2000 and lists its world headquarters at 6400 Congress Ave. in Boca Raton. Its president is Antonio Mugica Rivero, 30, and its vice president is Alfredo Anzola, 30.

* Bizta Corp.,which will provide software for the new machines, incorporated in Florida in 2001, and lists its address as 19591 Dinner Key Dr., Boca Raton, a residential property owned by Mugica's father. Mugica is listed as president, and Anzola is vice president, according to Florida records. Venezuelan records, however, indicate Anzola is president. In Caracas, Bizta shares its office with Smartmatic.

* CANTV, Venezuela's publicly held phone company, will provide phone lines to connect the system and election day technical support. It would have been part of any voting system selected for the elections contract.

Venezuelan journalist Orlando Ochoa Teran investigated the claims published by the Miami Herald and discovered that Venezuelan officials were behind the incorporation of Smartmatic. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and Venezuelan Ambassador to the USA Bernardo Alvarez Herrera are intimately related, either through long time friendship or consanguinity relationship, to the directors of Smartmatic. According to registry documents, that went missing after the Herald blew the whistle, the names associated to the company are Alfredo Anzola, Antonio Mugica and families Gabaldon-Anzola and Herrera-Oropeza [3]. The incorporation of Smartmatic took place in the Fifth Mercantile Registry, located in the ground floor of tower B in “Cubo Negro” building in Chuao Caracas. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel's daughter -lawyer Gisela Rangel Avalos de D'Armas was, at the time, the head of the said registry.

Since March 2004 the CNE has disbursed at least $131 million to Smartmatic [4].

Who controls Smartmatic?

The findings of Orlando Ochoa did not end in a Caracas registry though. Recently he wrote for Quinto Dia another article, carrying the title of this paragraph, in which he commented upon the recent acquisition of Sequoia Voting Systems for an undisclosed amount. "With the combination of Sequoia and Smartmatic, both proven innovators with accomplished track records in either the U.S. or abroad, we are creating the first truly global leader in providing voter-verified electronic voting solutions," said Jack Blaine, President, Smartmatic [5]. Furthermore, after analyzing the minutes of a meeting held in Chicago between Cook County and Chicago's city officials with the board of Sequoia, that remained in charge after the take over, and that of Smartmatic [6], Ochoa noted that unknown Venezuelan investors, operating via proxy European ventures, could indeed be the controlling power behind Smartmatic.

Sequoia Voting Systems was the e-voting branch of De La Rue PLC, the "world 's largest commercial security printer and papermaker" (sic) [7]. De La Rue's 2005 preliminary statement reports the sale to Smartmatic thusly:

"following the strategic review in December 2004, we announced our intention to exit the business (added: of voting systems) by the year end and this was done through the sale of the business to Smartmatic Corporation, a US based device networking and election systems company. The business had revenues of £23.1m (2003/2004 : £44.2m) and made an operating loss of £0.2m in the year (2003/2004 : £(1.9)m)" [8, page 8].

Interestingly page 5 cites "During the second half, we also successfully completed the sale of the Sequoia Voting Systems business for a consideration of £8.7m (US$16m) resulting in an exceptional gain of £6.0m" (sic).

Following Ochoa's lead I searched the registry of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, which contains details of a venture trading under the name Smartmatic International Holding B.V., incorporated, under a different name, on March 18th 1.985. Its registered address is Naritaweg 165 Telestone 8, 1043BW Amsterdam. The company activities are described as "to purchase, develop and manage property and goods" [9]. The sole shareholder of the holding is Amola Investments N.V., which in turn was incorporated in the registry of the Chamber of Commerce of Curaçao, under number 91615. A search for Amola Investments N.V. in the register of Curaçao's Chamber of Commerce returns no results. However the incorporation number does exist in the register, containing not information related to Amola Investments N.V. but to another company by the name of Smartmatic International Group N.V. [10]. Curaçao Corporation Company N.V. [11], Netherlands Antilles Corporation Company N.V. [12] and Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez -Vice President, Special Operations of Smartmatic Corporation [13]- are the three listed statutory and managing directors of the group.

Ochoa indicated that an entry in the minutes of the meeting aforementioned describes Cook County's Commissioner Peter Silvestri [14] asking to representatives of Sequoia/Smartmatic "who owns Sequoia?" (sic). The answer came from Honorable David Orr [15]: "Smartmatic International, which is owned by a Dutch company, owns Sequoia Voting Systems. Some key investors of the said Dutch company are Venezuelans" (sic). On May 26th 2005 Cook County's Election Department informed that Sequoia was the winner of the bidding process for electronic voting equipment [16].

The Amsterdam registry shows that Smartmatic International Holding B.V.'s managing director is Trust International Management (T.I.M.) B.V.. Both companies operate from the same address. According to the register the website of T.I.M. B.V is http://citco.com [17]. Citco Group is quoted in Hedge Funds World as "the world's largest hedge fund administrator" (sic) [18], that until very recently was controlled by Switzerland's Sandoz Foundation [19]. However Citco has informed that "an investor group including the Smeets Family Trust, Citco managers, and friends of the firm has acquired a controlling interest in Citco from the Sandoz Family Foundation" (sic) [20].

The USAID, IFES, Carter Center, CNE and Smartmatic connection

In June 1998, the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela contracted the International Foundation for Election Systems IFES to renew and make recommendations regarding proposals for an automated voting system in Venezuela [21, page 29 ]. IFES has been awarded (award number AEP-I-00-00-00007-00) an "indefinite quantity contract" (IQC) by USAID with the following purpose: "To support the transition to, and consolidation of, democratic governments through which citizens choose their leaders and participate in all levels of political decision-making, particularly in transition and sustainable development countries" [22, page 30 ]. According to Carter Center's America's Programme director Jennifer McCoy "President Carter had traveled several times to Venezuela, including monitoring the 1998 and 2000 elections, and he and President Chavez built a very good personal relationship" [23]. Such warm relationship may have come about due to the fact that the Carter Center is the sole subcontractor of IFES for the aforementioned purpose.

CNE's director Jorge Rodriguez traveled to Smartmatic's 'factory' in Italy, early in 2004, to check the progress of the production of the electronic voting machines. These were purchased to Tecnost Sistemi Olivetti for $57.968.040. However Italian news agency ANSA posted on the economy section on April 15, 2004 that the total amount of the contract was over $24 million:

"Olivetti Tecnost, la Business Unit "Office & System Solutions" del Gruppo Telecom Italia, si e aggiudicata una commessa del valore di oltre 24 milioni di dollari, per la fornitura complessiva di 20.000 terminali di voto elettronico in Venezuela, che saranno utilizzati per la prima volta nelle elezioni del prossimo agosto". (bold added)

20.000 AES300 machines were bought to Olivetti, however the Italian firm does not have such a model in its catalog of products but one called MAEL 205, which was designed to play lottery. Ochoa noted that the said machines produced by Olivetti were sold to Peru, India and Tunisia not for electoral purposes [24]. Smartmatic did not fulfill the CNE's criteria in terms of experience in organization and conduction of electoral processes of companies that participated in the bidding process. The obstacle was circumvented by hiring Jorge Tirado, former contractor of IFES and director of Caribbean Government Consultants (CGC):

Jorge Tirado, president of CGC, has been consultant for the State Electoral Commission of Puerto Rico since1975. He has participated in more than 63 electoral processes as consultant or as head of CGC, leading technological initiatives and process lines to ensure transparent elections. [25].

However El Universal reported that Tirado had indeed participated in 63 electoral processes not in the condition of organizer but as an observer contracted by IFES [26], organization with which he has an old relationship [27].

Implications

It is extremely worrying indeed that a company with connections to the Hugo Chavez regime has been selected to run elections in a county of Chicago and given carte blanche to operate in the USA and other countries. Equally preoccupying is the fact that leading players of the global financial market are related to Smartmatic and to some extent to Fidel Castro's heir.

Students in Venezuela cry "Chavez, farsante, asesino de estudiantes!"

London 03.07.05 | From my own experience I can tell that it is very hard indeed to come to terms with the death of loved ones. Even when such tragedies are caused by natural causes. Just to begin to explain the pain that one goes through when an accident robs one of a person held dear is an almost impossible task; language is of no help in such instances. Thus I can only express my sincerest condolences to the families of Leonardo González Lárez, Edgar Quintero Torrealba and Erick Miguel Montenegro Sánchez, the three students slaughtered for no reason by Hugo Chavez's repressive military apparatus. The reaction from the students in Caracas was swift; yesterday they marched to the office of Venezuela's Attorney General to demand his resignation.

Of course, as I have argued with Jorge Arena over at Miguel's blog in regards to the possible resignation of ministers or police chiefs, to expect such a first wordly reaction from them or the Attorney General, as demanded by the students, is mere wishful thinking:

Jorge, there's absolutely nothing wrong about holding the expectation of accountability to ever take shape in our besieged country. One of the most remarkable things I heard yesterday during the Live 8 transmission was a comment by Miss Dynamite "if thousands of people were to die every day here in Britain, as it happens in Africa, would we tolerate it without reacting?"

Now my question to you; do you honestly believe that should the Metropolitan Police slaughter three students in a street of London heads would not roll in a matter of seconds? The problem is, my friend, Venezuela is not a civilised country; is not a place where the citizenship can expect any form of accountability from the governing establishment.

You have far to high expectations because you, as me, as others who write in these blogs, know other systems and have witnessed how monumental fuck ups, such as the killing of the students, have dire consequences and jail time for those involved. Try and convey that message to isaias or clodosvaldo or jessy. Can you imagine what would have happened should one of their children suffered the same fate? I argued once with that pusillanimous ambassador of ours here in London that there exist two classes of citizens in Venezuela; those in chavez's inner circle and the rest. This is the proof.

According to Oscar Perez the man in charge of the death squad, Major Jose Baldomero Peña Carrillo, was sentenced in the past to three years in jail on fraud charges. The Attorney General knew of this for other accusations with respect to Peña Carrillo have been presented before his office. But what can be expected from an Attorney General's office whose star prosecutor, read Danilo Anderson, was the leader of a ring of thugs extorting millions out of those he meant to be prosecuting? No. The disposable ones will get a slap in the wrist by officialdom and in six months time they will be reassigned to other revolutionary duties. After all this is not the first instance in which death squads assassinate citizens in broad daylight in total disregard of human rights and due process, remember Antonio Lopez Castillo? The autopsy revealed that he had eighteen bullet wounds, eighteen, one in his jaw, at a very close range... Has anyone been made accountable for Lopez Castillo's assassination? No. Has anyone been charged regarding the dissapearance of Silvino Bustillos on October 31st 2004? No...

One image says it all!! More here...

¿Hay alguien en casa?

Londres 29.06.05 | ... y fidel vino... y mataron a unos estudiantes... y pasan leyes que afectan la vida de TODOS LOS VENEZOLANOS... y regalan nuestro patrimonio a otros mientras nuestra gente muere de mengua... y los políticos de la oposición se cuadran con el régimen... y la revolución avanza... y siembran la división y nos llenan de odio... y el asesino de soldados venezolanos es nombrado padrino de promoción de ese ejercito gallardo 'forjador de libertades'... y sigue la corrupción... y el hampa se mudo a Miraflores... y yo me pregunto: ¿hay alguien en casa? ¿Hay venezolanos a quienes les duela lo que sucede así como me duele a mi? Si los hay y están en Venezuela ¿porque no actúan? ¿Que están esperando para reaccionar? ... y concluyo: cada pueblo tiene el gobierno que se merece... Cuando se forme lo que ha de formarse no duden en contar conmigo. Espero, en ese entonces, contar con energía suficiente...

As Uribe's chances of reelection diminish , US faces formidable regional challenges

London 26.06.05 | Colombia's president Alvaro Uribe faces mounting opposition from what it seems to be a united front of the liberal party and other more preoccupying factors. A coalition of former presidents -Cesar Gaviria, Ernesto Samper and Andres Pastrana- seems to have found common ground, leaving behind past rivalries, to attack the policies and performance of former party member Alvaro Uribe. Recent appointments aside, that of Cesar Gaviria as party leader, it remains to be seen whether or not they will be able to agglutinate enough votes against the current president, whose prospects of getting re-elected look promising -should the Constitutional Court rules in favour of approving the necessary constitutional amendment- given the high level of support and popularity he enjoys. There are however other elements that must be considered.

Due to procedural methods the decision of the Constitutional Court, even if favourable to Uribe's aspirations, will take some time to materialise, which could impede the timely inscription for the presidential race of Uribe. There are other constitutional reforms, such as prohibition to public office holders to participate in politics; modification to the campaign financing mechanisms, that need be passed. To make the amendment workable Colombian jurists believe that both the Penal and the Disciplinary Codes and the Regime of Incompatibilities must also be reformed. Ergo, due to time constraints, Uribe's chances are slim.

Then one has to observe the swelling movement building around Bogota's leftist Mayor Lucho Garzón, who, gossip has it, it's the favourite in Caracas and Havana, and without a doubt has signed already in 'Mision la Nueva Gran Colombia' and -as Evo Morales, the Ortegas, the Humalas, Lopez Obrador and the duet Gutierrez/Bucaram- is likely to benefit from Venezuelan petrodollars and expert chavista advice on how to bring about 'democratic revolutions' successfully.

The FARC, ensconced for a while, have reemerged of late to make Uribe's Patriot Plan look like a failure. Reinvigorated, after much needed rest and pampering in Venezuelan soil, the narcoterrorists have recently engaged in fierce battles with Colombia's army which has added yet more casualties to the very long list of victims in their war against the state. Raul Reyes, spokesman of the narcoterrorist group, should have been very upset when he wrote recently that FARC's archenemy Alvaro Uribe "...pretends to perpetuate himself in power..." Similar perpetuating wishes of camarada Hugo Chavez and the 46 years that the Cuban tyrant and idelogical guru of the FARC has in power, are, of course, no matter for concern.

The US hegemony and clout in the region are on an increasingly weak footing. The fact that the big South American players -Brazil and Mexico- are either governed, or to be governed, by friends of Castro/Chavez poses a huge challenge to the US administration, which needs be said, does not seem to count with the brightest of diplomats and strategists in its foreign service. The question of throwing its weight behind Alvaro Uribe can and will make the difference between a region gearing towards prosperity, democracy and the reestablishment of the rule of law or a continent plagued with revolutions a la Bolivarian. The consequences of having upwards of 500 million people ruled by deranged leaders will be dire for the US, whether it wants to realize the gravity of the situation or continues with the policy of appeasement and leniency. For the vast majority of Latinos willing to emigrate will find their way north. Thus the US administration should act now or prepare for an ever growing invasion.