With the reopening of the debate on his alleged links with “Fred” Machado, The Argentine businessman extradited to the United States for reasons of drug trafficking and money laundering, the Senate opposition presented a challenge to the libertarian legislator’s document Lorena Villaverdequestioning its “moral, ethical and constitutional suitability.” According to the PJ’s brief, the concern not only lies in the leader’s criminal record in the United States, but also in her alleged closeness to figures in Machado’s network.
The opposition claim, mainly from Peronism, maintained that the Rio Negro legislator was “publicly linked to Machado’s cousin, Claudio Ciccarelli, designated as a front man for drug trafficking.” The accusation, by the senators, was enough to block her access to the Upper House, considering her part of “the narcopolitics that currently operates in Argentina.”
On the other hand, in recent months, a dark section of Villaverde’s past was revealed. According to the media, in 2002, the LLA leader was arrested in Sarasota, Florida, accused of conspiracy to distribute more than 400 grams of cocaine. Before the North American Justice, the case ended with a dismissal: Villaverde maintains that it was “a massive raid” where, she assures, she never saw drugs and that she was declared innocent after a new trial. “I am not a drug trafficker, I have no ties to Machado,” he stated publicly.
For his part, Villaverde defended himself harshly. In recent statements, he denounced “armed causes” and described the accusations as “viciousness” against him. He affirmed that he does not have “current criminal cases in Argentina or the United States” and that the accusations are due to “a dirty campaign” aimed at outlawing him.
After the scandal surrounding Villaverde and her refusal to be sworn in as national senator for the province of Río Negro, the libertarian deputy asked the president of the Lower House, Martín Menem, to be withdraw the resignation. “It is hereby requested that the note for which I resigned from my position as National Deputy, generated by File 6523-D-2025, be withdrawn,” the parliamentarian requested in the writing. Despite remaining two years in the representative chamber, the woman from Rio Negro had resigned from her seat in Deputies, since she planned to take up the seat in the Senate.
In this context, the blocks of senators agreed that Lorena Villaverde’s diploma be reviewed again by the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the Senate after December 10. For the moment, the Patagonian legislator fears being left without bread and cake.
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