Ok, Ok. I know that this article from the Miami Herald doesn't identify either the doctor, nor the hospital, where the torture maestro received his medical treatment. That is, not directly. But it is a save guess that it is Houston's very own, M. D. Anderson. But why? Because this is the favored hospital of the Bush Klan, that's why. In all their myriad travels around the world on behalf of the government and the CIA, they never fail to inform their friends about the excellent quality of medical care available in their home state of Texas. Workers (servants) get to enter from a parking lot some distance away from this Grand Palace of Care. It's a walk past the Ronald McDonald House, and then an entrance into America's elite cancer treatment center. But keeping in the internationalst spirit of neo-liberal globalization, a sizable chunk of patients are not upper class Americans. They are upper class international associates insead! The in-house media comes on channel, in 5 different languages ! And the in-house press likes to front page their patron saints, most especially Barbara and George. This is a treatment center that seems especially popular with the Arab Emirate and Saudi sheiks. But plenty of patients can also be found, from places like Argentina, India, Mexico and Peru. I won't go into too much detail, but the facility is considerably more plush and CLEAN, than that in your neighborhood, Tex. One could almost describe the facility as palatial. Though, fortress-like also comes to mind, since a homey setting must be kept while the elite get their care. In case of a medical problem arising from the use of DU weaponry in your own little neck of the global woods, think M.D. Anderson, Cancer Treatment Center. Tony Abdo P.S. Note the $1,500 bail. Pretty steep for a major drug trafficker and assassin. They must have wanted to keep him in, real bad. But then he is.... a sick man. It's a case of the FBI's get tough on crime strategy, now tempered by 'compassionate conservatism'. _______________________________ Accused aide of Peru spy master held in Miami BY MARIKA LYNCH [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peru's second-most-wanted man wasn't difficult to find in South Florida. Víctor Alberto Venero Garrido -- a suspected arms dealer accused of skimming more than $100 million from a government pension fund -- had opened a $15 million bank account in his own name. Venero, an associate of Peruvian spy master Vladimiro Montesinos whose own scandal brought down the government of President Alberto Fujimori, was arrested on public corruption and money laundering charges after he tried to make a withdrawal at a Miami Citibank on Friday. On Monday, he asked a federal magistrate to let him out on bond because the stress was aggravating his rare form of lung and colon cancer. Jail guards ridiculed him when he told them he was bleeding from his rectum Sunday night, Venero told U.S. Magistrate Judge John J. O'Sullivan. A hearing will be held Friday, when Venero's Texas doctor will testify about his condition. He is being held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami. His survival is important, Venero told the judge, because he has undergone an experimental treatment that can benefit others. ``The research will save other lives,´´ Venero said. MAINTAINS INNOCENCE The 47-year-old maintained his innocence Monday, but neither he nor his Miami lawyers, Walter Reynoso and Scott Srebnick, explained the origins of his Miami fortune. Venero's Peruvian attorney, Luis Roy Freyre, said his client has lived in the United States since 1998 when he began cancer treatment. He told The Herald Venero's money came from his construction and textile businesses back home. The controversy surrounding Venero's past touched the country's highest political official this weekend, when a report surfaced that Venero's family had given $30,000 to interim President Valentín Paniagua to cover costs for his congressional campaign. Paniagua went on national television Sunday night to deny it and called the allegation by a onetime Montesinos security guard ``an open and brazen conspiracy,´´ the Lima daily El Comercio reported. SIGNIFICANT ARREST Apart from that, Venero's arrest is significant because it will aid the investigation into Montesinos, a top Fujimori advisor who left the country after a video showed him apparently bribing a congressman, said Gustavo Gorriti, a Peruvian journalist and author living in exile in Panama. The U.S. government's help in his capture also was noteworthy, Gorriti said, because Montesinos is known as a one-time CIA informant. According to court documents released Monday, the Peruvian government, which is seeking to extradite Venero, alleges he was Montesinos' most trusted ``bagman´´ or ``strawman.´´ Venero allegedly used his position as the ``de-facto´´ head of the country´s military and police pension fund to pilfer millions he then used to buy apartment complexes, hotels and buildings, the documents said. He would then sell the assets back to the fund, at inflated prices. Venero also helped Montesinos organize a scheme to sell substandard arms from Belarus and other countries to the Peruvian military at excessive prices, the documents said. $15 MILLION ACCOUNT The FBI was first alerted to Venero earlier this month when Venero's $15 million account showed up on a routine check of required bank reports, said Frank Figliuzzi, assistant special agent in charge for the FBI in Miami. The Peruvian government officially charged him Jan. 19 and sent out a request through Interpol for help in locating him three days later. The FBI then tracked Venero to a house in Southwest Miami-Dade. Fearing Venero was about to transfer the money to another bank, the agency froze his assets Friday. The suspected arms dealer found out when he tried to withdraw millions at 10 that morning. He stayed at the downtown bank several hours, trying to figure out how to get the money, Figliuzzi said. He finally left a few hours later, had a drink at a hotel bar, then went home. About 11:30 that night, the agency arrested him at home. At first, the FBI believed Montesinos might be in tow. But the agency has no information that the former head of Peru's intelligence agency is in South Florida, Figliuzzi said. The FBI does have information, however, that Venero has a handful of other bank accounts around the country. ``There are many more millions involved in this case, and we are as I speak becoming aware of more millions elsewhere,´´ Figliuzzi said. This weekend's arrest was not Venero's first in South Florida, Miami-Dade Police say. Venero has an assault and battery charge stemming from a domestic violence incident the morning of July 16, documents show. He was arrested by Miami Beach Police at the Fontainebleau Hilton, 4441 Collins Ave., in room 1076. Booking records show he was released the next day on $1,500 bond. Herald staff writer Elaine de Valle, Herald translator Renato Pérez and Rui Ferreira of El Nuevo Herald contributed to this report. _______________________________________________ Crashlist website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
