Argentine Spygate: Visitor logs tie Macri-era Security Minister Patricia Bullrich to those indicted
Visitor logs recently obtained from Argentina's Security Ministry show that former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, a hard-liner in right-wing President Mauricio Macri's 2015-19 tenure, met while minister with many of the over 40 intelligence officers and others already indicted in the far-reaching case.
The logs, obtained via a Freedom of Information request by the Buenos Aires online journal El Destape (The Reveal) show that many of these meetings were held despite Bullrich's repeated assertions to the contrary since then.
These include meetings with Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) agent Marcelo d'Alessio - who touched off the "Spygate" surveillance scandal in February 2019 after audio and video was published showing d'Alessio admit to and explain, in detail, an extortion scheme involving at least $12 million in ransom payments and false testimony coerced against political opponents.
Bullrich met with d'Alessio as recently as August 14, 2017 - the day after Macri's right-wing "Let's Change" coalition had an unexpected though narrow defeat in first-round mid-term elections in Buenos Aires Province (home to 3 out of 8 Argentines).
She had always maintained last seeing d'Alessio "very early in my tenure" (late 2015) and that metadata showing dozens of phone calls between the two were due to her "grandchild getting a hold of my phone."
Beside d'Alesssio, Bullrich met most often with with, among others:
· Longtime Macri associate Daniel Angelici (who was given an AFI phone);
· Then-AFI head Gustavo Arribas;
· Former Provincial Prosecutor Juan Bidone;
· Macri-era Federal Penitentiary Service (SPF) head Emiliano Blanco;
· The late Federal Judge Claudio Bonadío;
· Then-head of AFI Counterintelligence Diego Dalmau Pereyra;
· Then-deputy AFI head Silvia Majdalani;
· Argentina's top arms and security equipment dealer Mario Montoto;
· AFI senior agent Pablo Pinamonti;
· Judicial writer for the right-wing daily Clarín, Daniel Santoro (charged with laundering misinformation for extortion);
· and Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli.
Except Bonadío (who died in 2020) and Montoto - a powerful figure who helped broker Macri's 2017 purchase of Israel's Pegasus phone-hacking software - all have since been indicted in the "Spygate" case.
Known targets - believed to be as many as 1,500 - thus far include at least 403 journalists, 58 businesspeople, 28 academics, 20 federal lawmakers, 20 federal judges, the mayor of Buenos Aires, two former presidents - as well as Macri's sister Florencia and her family.
An international arrest warrant was issued last week against Macri's top judicial adviser Fabián "Pepín" Rodríguez Simón - in a related extortion case targeting the owners of a cable news channel critical of Macri (C5N).
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Former Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, the late Federal Judge Claudio Bonadío (the visible face of lawfare against opponents during Macri's 2015-19 tenure), and indicted intelligence agent Marcelo d'Alessio.
Visitor logs confirm longstanding reports that Bullrich had met often with many of the over 40 figures indicted thus far in the far-reaching "Spygate" case - involving illegal domestic surveillance and extortion under Macri.
