its links with Río Negro and international complaints

The arrest of the businessman at Neuquén airport Federico “Fred” Machado Due to an international arrest warrant, he had a strong impact on Río Negro. The captured-who He is from Viedmense, but has lived in Miami for years – he has business and family ties in the province, especially in Viedma.

The arrest launched by Interpol was demanded by the United States government on charges of large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering and wire fraud. Machado owns an aviation company and also has investments in different activities.

Among the first reactions, the advisers of the Frente de Todos de San Antonio asked the mayor Adrián Casadei to dissociate the investment of the naval workshop from the port of “money laundering”, recalling that the company linked to entrepreneurship has as agent Diego Goñi, who “is a personal friend of Machado”.

In a statement, San Antonio advisers point out that “Our fears had taken hold, we hope that time will not prove us right and the naval workshop that the ruling party defends has no connection with dark affairs, as we warned a few weeks ago . “

This bench – chaired by Guillermo Masch and composed of Vanesa Carmona and Marcela Dodero – warns that “We know that those who ‘launder’ ‘black’ money use unsustainable projects and businesses without support to which they provide funds for investments that are not transparent. The lack of basic data and information about Max Technology, the company that proposed to build a naval workshop in SAE, coupled with Goñi’s close friendship with Machado, makes us fear that we are faced with a maneuver of these characteristics, endangering our municipal heritage. and put it at the disposal of unsuspected interests.

In your concern, the advisers recall an investigation by El Periódico de Guatemala which alludes to that “the name of Federico Andrés Machado appeared on January 27 during a summons to the Congress of the Republic as allegedly responsible for the operation of an illegal mine in Camotán, Chiquimula, where they would extract gold and silver. “

The journalistic note emphasizes that “This Argentine citizen invested in mining, construction and development of tourism projects in Guatemala, has more serious and urgent problems to solve.: On February 24, he was accused by the United States government along with seven other people of joining an organization which, between 2012 and December 18, 2020, conspired with drug traffickers in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico to send thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the United States. “

Research adds that Machado, Debbie Mercer-Ewin and their daughter Kayleigh Moffett, would have laundered at least 350 million US dollars from 2016 to December 2020, according to investigations by the US prosecution. For this, they are charged with five crimes: conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine, conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine knowing that it was going to be illegally brought to the United States, manufacture and distribution of cocaine. cocaine knowing that it would be introduced there. an illegal route in the United States, a conspiracy to commit money laundering and a conspiracy to commit electronic fraud. “