Buenos Aires, Argentina – Lorena Villaverde confirmed on Wednesday that she would not assume her seat as senator for President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) political party.
The national deputy, who won a seat in Argentina’s upper chamber during October’s midterm elections, had been prevented from being sworn in as senator of the Río Negro province by intense opposition that pointed to Villaverde’s chequered past involving narcotrafficking.
La Nación reported that Villaverde was arrested and convicted of drug trafficking in the U.S. in 2002, having been accused of trafficking more than 400 grams of cocaine. The Argentine newspaper claims that a new arrest warrant was issued in March 2003 after she failed to comply with the conditions of her release. However, she then returned to Argentina, causing the case to eventually be closed in 2017 after 14 years of inaction.
The complaint filed by opposition senators alleges that Villaverde was also investigated for crimes in Argentina, including money laundering, drug trafficking, tax evasion, and fraud.
In Villaverde’s resignation letter posted on X, she stated that she does not accept the allegations and only renounced her seat so that the opposition cannot use her “like a tool to damage the government, reforms, and the future of the Argentine people.”
Patricia Bullrich, head of the LLA senate block and former security minister, had reportedly urged Villaverde to resign her seat and publicly defend herself against the accusations over the past week. The government would have required the support of other parties in order to swear her in as senator.
Whilst Villaverde will not take a seat in the Senate, she will instead continue in her position as a national deputy, the role she has held since 2023.
In October, another LLA candidate was embroiled in a scandal over their ties to narcotrafficking. José Luis Espert was forced to renounce his candidacy for Congress after it emerged that he had received 200 thousand dollars from Fred Machado while running for the presidency in 2019. Machado, who also lent Espert a private jet and an armed truck, was extradited to the United States last month, having been accused of drug trafficking and fraud.
It appears that Milei’s party has strong links with Fred Machado. Enzo Paulo Fullone, the 37-year-old businessman who will replace Villaverde for her Senate seat, allegedly had a cryptocurrency farm financed by Machado.
Francisco Oneto, Milei’s lawyer, also represented Machado in the Supreme Court’s deliberation over whether he would be extradited.Villaverde herself is claimed to have forged close ties with Claudio Ciccarelli – the cousin and alleged frontman for Machado – in her home province of Río Negro.
Featured image: Campaign poster from Lorena Villaverde’s Senate campaign.
Image credit: Facebook via Lorena Villaverde.
