Jose Luis Cabezas and Guillermo Seita They have a history tied to fire. Although it sounds like a catchphrase, a cliché, in the case of the photographer for NOTICIAS magazine and the off-road operator -who today advises several premium politicians, such as Larreta and Schiaretti, is sadly true. To the then chief of staff of Sunday Horsepublic enemy of Alfredo Yabran, they burned down his house in Pinamar, in what was the last of the three attempts on his life orchestrated by the obscure businessman. The one who lit the fuse, one early morning in October 1996, was Gustavo Prellezo. Three months later, this corrupt police officer would finish off Cabezas with two shots, and then burn his car. The drums and gasoline he used for that crime were exactly the same ones he had used to burn Seita’s home to ashes.
In fact, Seita says that the union between the two fires was important evidence for Judge José Luis Macchi to order Yabrán’s arrest on May 15, 1998, five days before the “Postman” suicide. In fact, one of the questions that Mariano Grondona would repeat to Cavallo – in an interview, as a result of the arrest warrant, which cost a fortune for the satellite antenna that was needed for the connection between the channel and the United States, where it was the former minister – was “where is Seita?”. It must be understood that for several members of the red circle, and also for Yabrán, it was the protagonist of this note who had convinced Cavallo to go against the mafia businessman.
Seita, As he himself says, he had “a lot of power” in the 1990s, and he acknowledges having been part of the team that investigated Yabrán, although not the main promoter: he had been Cavallo’s chief of staff during his time as Chancellor, then in Economy and later he would be appointed as Media Secretary to organize Menem’s 1995 campaign. It was a vertiginous growth that came to an end after a letter left by yabranism at his home at the end of 1995 -“if we wanted to, you wouldn’t be reading this”-, from a bomb that exploded at his gate, meters from where he slept, and in the fire in Pinamar, in addition to the friction that was growing with his peers in the Menem government. “Ramón Hernández (ndR: Menem’s absolute trust secretary) told me several times: ‘Guille, why don’t we loosen up a bit with this Yabrán thing? And he was not the only one who interceded, ”he says now, to illustrate the complicity of that administration with the murderer of Cabezas, although he is careful not to directly involve the then President.
After the crime of the photographer Seita, he moved away from politics, and spent 12 years living with an extreme low profile in Mar del Plata. That’s why Grondona asked: nobody knew where he was. This is the first time that he has spoken on the subject, a quarter of a century after the murder of Cabezas.
News: Who helped Yabrán in the Menem movement?
Guillermo Seita: We never thought that Menem was committed to Yabrán. If you think that you have to leave the Government. We knew that there were many people linked to Menem -as linked to Alfonsín- related to Yabrán. But these things are serious, if you don’t have proof…
News: But could there have been support such as receiving Yabrán at La Rosada, after the crime, without the President’s permission?
Seita: No, but it’s understandable from one point of view. It was clear that Yabran had support in the government, a relationship with many officials. Maybe he had put money into the campaign, maybe that had built a bond that ended in what you say. Sometimes one receives favors and has no choice as to whether or not to repay them.
News: How much power did Yabrán have?
Seita: He was the businessman with the most power that I saw in Argentina, especially because of the nature of his power. Making pipes or having means is not the same as controlling distribution and logistics. In fact, and this is my opinion, I believe that Yabrán kills himself to protect his family from him. I think he worked for someone and that person told him to choose.
News: But who had more power?
Seita: I don’t know, maybe a foreign government for which Yabrán worked. What was Yabrán’s nationality? Sirius, right? For something he got along with many of that government. I ended up understanding that things did not end in Yabrán. He was not just a mafia businessman who bought politicians and people. It is very difficult for a State not to be behind so much militarized power. Yabrán was the focus of the US government for a reason: he claimed to have control of all access to Argentina. That objective exceeds what is legal.
News: Yabrán threatened you. How did the thing about Cabezas impact you?
Seita: A lot. There they crossed a line: a threat is one thing, the squeezes that people with power used to not investigate, the same thing that happened to the magazine, or setting your house on fire. Another is to kill yourself. There you no longer know what can happen, that’s why I also thought that they could shoot me. If you are in this activity you have to be clear that they listen to you, that they walk you. But the possibility of being killed never crosses the line. There I thought about containing my family: they did not choose this life, they did not choose to be a political soldier like me, they did not choose to walk with an iron around their waist at 16 years old (ndR: Seita was a member of Montoneros and later of La Lealtad ).
The thing about Cabezas was a tremendous message, and it was for several. Without a doubt it was for Duhalde, who was the one who asked me to testify against Yabrán. Look, it is very easy to enter politics, but it is very difficult to leave. I went in and luckily I was able to leave, and come out fine: no one can tell you “I did a business with Seita”, no one comes to my house to piss me off. And I would never go back in.
