[Updated: Read the latest here in English, or follow my TL on Twitter] There have been persistent rumors circulating for some time regarding the alleged sale of El Universal, the oldest independent newspaper still operating in Venezuela. The sale, for a supposed €90 million, has been confirmed this week. The new director will be Jesús Abreu Anselmi, a rather obscure individual with an intriguing past connection to the Latino Bank of Gustavo Gómez López and, more recently, to the traitor – and former partner of Gómez López – Gustavo Cisneros. Abreu is also the brother of Maestro Abreu, the renowned director of Venezuela’s world-famous music system, El Sistema. He did little to establish his credibility or alleviate concerns about the new controlling party when he pointed to the Spanish company Epalisticia S.L. as the group behind the purchase. Epalisticia S.L. is a €3,500 company that commenced operations less than a year ago.
Epalisticia S.L. has a partner: Tecnobreaks Inc, another shell company of €3,500 incorporated last August. And who is the sole partner of Tecnobreaks Inc? Epalisticia S.L. A note added on 07.13.2014: Tecnobreaks is also a Panamanian company, whose president – Carlos Odín Velazco Cuello – admitted he had no idea his company was involved in the purchase of El Universal.
The first sole partner of Epalisticia (prior to Tecnobreaks Inc) was Mediterranean Search SL, which is surprisingly a shareholder of Banesco Holding Latinoamerica (the holding company behind Juan Carlos Escotet’s Banesco bank). Mediterranean Search is one of the hundreds of shell companies controlled by the law firm Cuatrecasas, one of the largest in Spain and the firm of choice for the boliburguesía:
The domains of the company, both Epalisticia.com and Epalisticia.es, were registered by a Miami-based company on March 10, 2014. After being exposed, the designer of the Epalisticia website and logos, also based in Miami, removed all traces of its involvement from both their website and Behance.net (we’ve saved copies, so don’t bother…).
It is clear that Epalisticia is nothing more than a facade, lacking any credibility or track record. Its claim of having “over one billion dollars” in capital investments is just an unfounded joke. And did I mention that, according to current legislation, it is illegal for foreign corporations to own newspapers in Venezuela?
Their directors – Eduardo López de la Osa, José Antonio de la Torre* and José Luis Basanta** – are largely unknown, obscure figures, with no background, experience in media, or successful investments anywhere. The email address for Epalisticia is dysfunctional, and no one answers their phone number.
So, how does Abreu expect anyone to believe a word he says in the future? How can Abreu and his paymasters hope that El Universal won’t follow the fate of Últimas Noticias, Globovisión, and El Nacional, given the obscurity surrounding the identity of its new owners? How can the new management of El Universal expect that its newly formed shell, lacking verifiable backgrounds, led by bankrupt individuals and operated from an apartment in Madrid, will be taken seriously? As this farce gains momentum, Andrés Mata, former owner of El Universal and someone who could very well identify the purchasing parties, remains silent despite repeated requests for comment. I wonder why that is… Check my Twitter account @alekboyd, as I’ll be posting more findings there.
*José Antonio de la Torre was director of a company called Torreangulo Arte Grafico SA. Curiously, this was a small family printing business that went bankrupt not long ago. In fact, the administrators were appointed by the Commercial Court No. 3 in Madrid in May 2013, due to bankruptcy:
**José Luis Basanta Otero is involved in three companies: Epalisticia, Geostancia, and Alter Capital (the latter involved in bringing Mexican capital to Spain). The first two of the three companies Basanta Otero is involved in have a combined capital of less than €10,000 and all three operate from an apartment in Madrid. Basanta Otero is also linked to something called Neopharm Obesity, a subsidiary of Landsteiner Scientific, where the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is supposedly a shareholder.