Causa Cuadernos: José López declared that he was sorry and all his previous statements were dismissed

The confessed criminal José López, former Secretary of Public Works during the three Kirchner governments and currently imprisoned with a unified sentence of 13 years in prison, went out this Thursday to do pathetic juggling to save the skin of his boss Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

This same guy who in 2018, as regretted, detailed with great precision the system of illegal collection of bribes in public works — percentages of 3%, 5% and up to 7%, deliveries of hundreds of thousands of dollars several times a week to Daniel Muñoz, coordination with Carlos Wagner and the entire bribery circuit — now comes with the face of a victim to say that he “never” saw Cristina as head of an illegal association, nor Julio De Vido, and that he only participated in a “legitimate government elected by the village”.

The same López, who was caught as an amateur trying to hide 9 million dollars in bags inside a convent, who accumulated an inexplicable fortune while managing the public works fund, who is currently serving prison for illegal enrichment and road fraud, dares to speak of “fear” of losing his salary and “media stalking”.

According to his new convenience story, everything was a confusion: the pace of politics is very fast, the lawyers told him that everything was in order and he didn't realize that “certain limits” were being crossed. A chorus of excuses from a thief who, when he was alone, vulnerable and under pressure in prison, sang like a canary because he knew that the information would be corroborated. Now that the wind has changed a bit, he says goodbye

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The most important phrases in José López's statement as repentant in the Cuadernos case

• He denied having joined an illegal association: “I never joined an illegal


association”.

• He defended his role in the Kirchner government: “I was called to form a legitimate government elected by the people.”




• He defended Cristina Kirchner and Julio De Vido: “I never saw Cristina Kirchner as the organizer or head of an illegal association or Julio de Vido.”




• He said that he had no intention of committing crimes: “I never had the purpose of committing crimes, I felt that I was fulfilling my functions within the parameters of politics.”

He explained the “fear” he had said he felt towards Cristina Kirchner: “The fear that I said I had of her has to do with Cristina Kirchner's way of exercising power and my fear was to do the job badly and lose it.”

He described pressure before declaring as regretful: “They told me I should aim up.”

He questioned the conditions under which he declared that he was sorry: “For everything I experienced, if I had found myself in another mental and health situation I would not have made this statement as a repentant.”

He stated that he could not return to the Ezeiza prison after declaring: “I told them that I could not return to the ward in Ezeiza and they told me to join the protected witness program.”

He said he felt pressured by the media and prison climate: “That affected me a lot”; he also stated that he felt “pressured by the media”.

He pleaded not guilty to the alleged acts: “I am innocent of all the facts that are being charged with me.”

López was not only part of the government: he was one of the central operators of the machine to steal systematically through public works for twelve years. To have denied the illegal association today is an insult to the intelligence of any Argentine who is not a blind militant.

The entire Kirchner leadership — Cristina, De Vido, Muñoz and company — would have set up a real criminal business disguised as a State. They distributed public works by hand to friends of power, collected their mandatory percentage and lined their pockets while ordinary people worked to pay taxes. López was a key cog in that mafia, and now he is trying to whitewash it with a victimist and lying discourse

that smells of desperation.