Luis Ventura tore into Marcelo Polino over the complaint against APTRA: “He is the Judas I didn't expect”

The internal conflict of the Argentine Association of Television and Radio Journalists (APTRA) has taken a new turn. Luis Ventura targeted Marcelo Polino for having turned to the General Inspection of Justice (IGJ) to demand access to the entity's accounting documents and compared him to Jorge Rial.

The statements were made during an interview on Nora Colosimo's streaming show on Radio TU, and were later reproduced by LAM on América TV. The public dispute occurs while APTRA must meet a series of administrative requirements set by the regulatory body.

Ventura demands an apology and accuses Polino of betrayal

“You know that in this industry not everyone apologizes,” Colosimo commented during the conversation. Ventura took the opportunity to directly target his colleague.

“I am waiting for Polino's apology. I am standing on the sidewalk of APTRA and he is not coming”, he stated.

When the host mentioned the confrontation between the two, the leader hardened his response: “Yes, I do not tolerate betrayal, he is the Judas I did not expect, the (Jorge) Rial of the new generation”.

The episode also exposes the deterioration of a personal relationship that the two journalists had publicly presented as close. Ventura believes that Polino should have spoken to him before taking his complaint to the state agency.

Ventura's suspicions about the Martín Fierro awards

“Why do you think he did it?” Colosimo wanted to know. The president of APTRA replied: “Because there is an engineering behind it”.

He then stated that there would be political or business interests in controlling the association and its awards. He mentioned the possibility of privatizing the entity, selling its headquarters —which he valued at one and a half million dollars— and managing revenues he estimated at around 500 million pesos annually.

These are suspicions expressed by Ventura: he did not publicly identify the supposed interested parties nor did he present evidence in that interview to support that maneuver.

He also defended the destination of APTRA's funds and pointed out that they cover medical needs of members, from hospitalizations and nursing homes to specialized treatments.

Regarding his continuity at the helm of the institution, he issued another warning: “They either take me out with my feet forward or they bury me here at the bottom”.

What the IGJ resolved after Polino's complaint

The controversy has a concrete institutional dimension. Through resolution 862/2026, the IGJ declared the ordinary assembly of APTRA on July 30 irregular and ineffective, because the necessary documentation was not available to the members under the required conditions.

The agency ordered a monitoring process through observers and demanded the updating of the registry, regularization of books and accounting documentation, clarification of corporate records, and the calling of a new assembly.

The monitoring does not equate to an administrative intervention that displaces APTRA's authorities. That possibility is contemplated in case of future non-compliance, while the regularization process continues.

Polino's response and APTRA's defense

Polino stated on Intrusos that he repeatedly requested to review the balances before the assembly, both personally and through messages and emails to the board of directors. He claimed that he turned to the IGJ after not receiving the expected responses.

“It’s very simple: they should present all the documentation and the story ends”, he expressed.

He also stated that the documentation known from the file raised doubts about records of entities with similar names.

From APTRA, lawyer Matías Garcete Suárez denied that there were two independent associations and attributed the confusion to a registration error.

The legal representative stated that the institution has updated financial statements until 2025, although he acknowledged problems in incorporating them into the corresponding books.

While Ventura demands an apology and Polino requests documents, APTRA will have to fulfill the IGJ's requirements and define a new assembly to address its balances.