Espert not the only La Libertad Avanza candidate with alleged narco links

The verification of a transfer of US$200,000 between businessman Federico Andrés ‘Fred’ Machado and ruling party national deputy José Luis Espert has once again brought to the surface the ambiguous and questionable contact points between La Libertad Avanza and individuals accused of possible crimes linked to drug-trafficking.

The first name on that list after Espert is current La Libertad Avanza deputy for Río Negro Lorena Villaverde, who is also a senatorial candidate for the Patagonian province in the October midterm elections.

According to a criminal report dated 2001, uncovered by opposition Unión por la Patria deputy Martín Soria, Villaverde was arrested in the state of Florida, United States, and was accused of drug-dealing and possession of 400 grams of cocaine. The report, according to the file that was accessed by Perfil, indicates that the arrest took place in November 2001.

Villaverde has not denied the allegations, which at one point prevented her entering the United States, but has previously said that "the charges were dropped" and that she was the victim of a stitch-up.

Perfil consulted the deputy, who refuted the accusations: “I was never indicted for drug-dealing; the charges were dropped by those very American courts,” she said.

Villaverde’s relationship to a man called Claudio Cicarelli, ‘Fred’ Machado’s cousin, has also drawn headlines. 

Some say she has been in a relationship with Cicarelli for years. He is the owner of the armoured van which was attacked in 2019, while Espert was visiting a news channel as a presidential candidate, and is a key piece in the Espert-Machado plot.

Villaverde told Perfil that he was “a friend active in La Libertad Avanza in Viedma.” She denied being in a relationship with him.

What is certain is that there are photos of Villaverde and Cicarelli. In some of them they are with other people, in others they are posing on one of the main balconies of the lower house of Chamber of Deputies, both of them smiling.

Cicarelli was also photographed next to ‘Fred’ Machado on April 18, 2019, when Espert presented a book at an event in Viedma. 

Villaverde has also drawn headlines for other reasons.  There are civil and criminal reports regarding  the sale of tracts of land in Las Grutas, as indicated by Río Negro newspaper. “The courts have ruled that there was no crime or harm,” the legislator responded to questioning.

Villaverde moved to Cipoletti, on the other side of the southern province, where she purchased a house thanks to a loan from Banco Nación. “For the first time in my life, thanks to economic policies and the return of loans, I was able to procure a bank loan,” she said. 

Another key La Libertad Avanza figure is Francisco Oneto, a criminal law lawyer who became notorious online for arguing about feminism. He was also a ruling party candidate for deputy governor of Buenos Aires Province on Carolina Píparo’s ticket in 2023. 

Oneto is Javier Milei’s lawyer. He is often seen appearing on the Carajo streaming channel, from where digital youths wage a “cultural battle.” However, Oneto is not just any other lawyer: he is also the legal representative of none other than ‘Fred’ Machado and he had the task of delaying the Supreme Court’s decision to define whether he is extradited or not.

The links do not end there. They extend to even Justice minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona. The minister had to clarify in December 2023, when he first took office, that he did not previously defend Miguel Ángel ‘Mameluco’ Villalba, the dangerous Rosario-based drug-trafficker narco chief.

Cúneo Libarona explained that he had personally not defended Villalba, but rather it was the family law firm where he worked until he took office. He did, however, defend Mario Segovia, the so-called “ephedrine king” who is currently behind bars, and Sergio Varisco, the former Paraná mayor, who has also been sentenced.