A new twist in the assault on independent media in chavista Venezuela: executives from the Spanish company (Epalisticia) after buying El Universal will be sued in Panama for document forgery. For those who haven’t closely followed this real-life drama, a Spanish company valued at €3,500, established just over a year ago, acquired El Universal, one of the oldest and most respected newspapers in Venezuela. According to registry information, this company (Epalisticia) had only one partner: the Panamanian Tecnobreaks Inc. When I contacted the owner of Tecnobreaks, the Venezuelan Carlos Odin Velazco, to ask where he had gotten the millions to purchase El Universal, he said: “that company never worked and I am a lower middle-class citizen and have never had that money (sic)”
I found Velazco’s surprise to be genuine. Nevertheless, I continued investigating the acquisition. A few days ago, noticing that Velazco was no longer listed as the owner of Tecnobreaks, I called him to ask if he had sold his company to Eduardo Escribano Lopez de la Osa, Jose Luis Otero Basanta, and Jose Antonio Lopez de la Torre, the three Spaniards listed as directors of Epalisticia, and now of Tecnobreaks in Panama. His response left me stunned: he was not informed by his Panamanian agent of an alleged extraordinary shareholders’ meeting—held in February of this year but legalized in July after I made public his relationship with Epalisticia through Tecnobreaks. In this supposed meeting, Alejandro Quiodetis (the Panamanian agent) removed Velazco from his position, appointed a new board of directors—composed of Eduardo Escribano Lopez de la Osa, Jose Luis Otero Basanta, and Jose Antonio Lopez de la Torre—and increased the capital of Tecnobreaks from $10,000 to $1,000,000.
Velazco assured me that he was unaware of his company’s involvement in the purchase of El Universal, as well as subsequent supposed meetings in which he was basically stripped of his company. He stated that both he and his family have received threats, but he felt it was important to clear his name and would begin legal actions. In a communication received today, Velazco confirms he is about to initiate legal proceedings in Panama against Quiodetis, Lopez de la Osa, Otero Basanta, and Lopez de la Torre for violations of Article 366 of the Penal Code of Panama, which states: Article 366. Anyone who falsifies or alters, totally or partially, a public deed, a public or authentic document or the digital signature of another, in a manner that could cause harm, will be punished with imprisonment of four to eight years. The same sanction shall be imposed on anyone who inserts or causes to be inserted into a public or authentic document false statements concerning a fact that the document must prove, provided that it may cause harm to another.
All of this will bring a series of consequences for the Spanish frontmen after the purchase of El Universal. They will likely have to reveal the true owners during the legal process. Velazco claims to have confronted Quiodetis about the illegal maneuvers to take control of Tecnobreaks, and says he noticed a particular nervousness in Quiodetis when he mentioned that the first sole partner of Epalisticia (the second is Tecnobreaks) was another phantom company called Mediterranean Search, which appeared in registry information as a shareholder of Banesco International, the holding company of Juan Carlos Escotet.
According to Velazco, Quiodetis said that it had all been a serious mistake. Now it remains to be seen what responsibilities the Panamanian justice system will attribute to this “error”.