National and Buenos Aires justice converge on a strange woman from Recoleta in the case of the violent cartels once morest Cristina Kirchner. He would be the one who sent a taxi driver to the printing press with 288,000 pesos and the original of the posters so that they might be printed there and then pasted in downtown Buenos Aires. Nilda Lilian Melhem since she is not a “grandmother”, “retired”, but a kind of executive of a offshoreKnightsbridge Partners, owned by her cousins, and she herself would be the owner of offices that she rents on Pueyrredón street.
The 61-year-old woman is not aware of a passion for politics, but in September of last year she dispatched herself with a violent post on Facebook blaming the government for the death of his parents from Covid — Eduardo Melhem was 93 years old and his wife, Nené, a similar age — because, following Cambiemos’ argument, the contract with Pfizer was not signed. In truth, when the parents died, the Pfizer vaccine had not even been administered in the United States..
Nilda Melhem was one of those who left those stones in front of the Casa Rosada on August 17, 2021 in memory of those who died from the pandemic. Even so, in the audios that she sent to the printing press salesman –Francisco Serrano– the woman answered several questions with the phrase “I have to consult my boss”. From her profile, “the boss” would seem to be from the right. Everything indicates that the case – which, unusually, the security forces and the justice system are unable to resolve – is heading down alleys with difficult exits.
The Lady of Recoleta I
The national and Buenos Aires justices came to Melhem by two different paths. The national-criminal judge Manuel De Campos, at the request of the prosecutor Leonel Gómez Barbella, ordered the search of the printing press where the posters were made. From there he took the cameras and, in addition, the owner of the company, Julio César Franchino, told when the original of the poster and the 282,000 pesos advance arrived. With this information, the cameras were viewed and it was determined that the original and the money were delivered by the driver of a Fiat Palio. Emanuel Montiel, driver of the Palio, said that he was an Uber driver and that everything was given to him by a lady who lives on Billinghurst Street, in Recoleta. That led to the identification of the lady. A little later, the Buenos Aires justice also arrived in Melhem, through the salesman of the printing press who says he arranged the printing of the posters with her.
The Lady of Recoleta II
When the Federal Police went to the Billinghurst Street apartment, Melhem was not there. The next day he presented a brief represented by the powerful –and costly– law firm Cúneo Libarona. Matías, the younger brother of the mediatic Mariano Cúneo Libarona, argued before the judge that the crime of the cartels is very minor and that therefore there was no reason to arrest the lady. Interestingly, Judge De Campos agreed with him and not only annulled the arrest warrant but did not even issue a summons for him to testify.
Melhem is not one of those women who publishes and publishes political positions on social networks. Her publications, several, rather have to do with yoga: “Yoga Nidra practice, guided by Lilian Melhem, Raja Yoga teacher”.
However, his hardest posting occurred in September 2021. “My parents, the red stone (referring to the two that were placed in front of the Casa Rosada), so much anger, so much impotence. Locked them up, locked up us by the opportunistic whim of two ill-born devils. We cannot and should not forgive. I remember my parents telling me ‘why don’t you sign with Pfizer and vaccinate, otherwise this pandemic is going to kill us’. I only pray to God to do the most painful Divine Justice for these heartless. I just hope I have enough life to see them go down with their own evil.” The text is accompanied by photos of the two stones placed a month earlier — August 2021 — in front of the Casa Rosada.
In truth, Eduardo Melhem passed away in November 2020 and his wife eleven days later, but still in the United States, the first doses of Pfizer were applied on December 14, 2020. The first vaccinated was Sandra Lindsay, a nurse from Long Island. In other words, it was impossible for the Melhem to have been vaccinated on the date they died. However, the daughter expressed that level of logical pain, but the aggressiveness typical of those influenced by the opposition.
The Mystery of the Boss
This Friday, the hierarchical salesman of the printing press, Francisco Serrano, declared in the Buenos Aires justice that he is the one who brought the request for the printing of the posters. The man gave a curious explanation. He said that a woman contacted him, that she used the name of Micaela Calvo, and whom she never met. She always communicated by text messages and whatsapp voice messages, in addition to emails from Yahoo from an American account that has already been terminated. Serrano also maintained that he never saw the posters or knew regarding their content, therefore, the responsibility for the printing rests with his boss within the company, who did see what was being printed and did not prevent it.
In the Tereszco prosecutor’s office they do not doubt that Micaela Calvo was the name that Melhem used in those communications, because it is clear that she was later the one who delivered the advance money and the pen drive with the original of the poster.
Serrano provided the Buenos Aires prosecutor with the messages and emails sent by the lady and the prosecutor listened to the audios. On several occasions, when asked by Serrano, the woman replied: “I have to consult my boss.”
Melhem’s profile
Melhem does not exhibit much interest in politics and does not give the impression of having devised anything as politically sophisticated as the posters. The text of the posters is fierce once morest Cristina –she is being murdered because the government did not sign with Pfizer, supposedly because of her influence–, but through a QR code it is related to a website –Cristinauta.org — in which Alberto Fernández is vindicated. In other words, the objective was to engender violence within the Frente de Todos and once morest CFK. The profile of such an operation does not seem to be that of Melhem, but perhaps someone from his family. One of the members of the Melhem group was in the Casa Rosada during the government of Mauricio Macri, on a visit to one of the deputy chiefs of the Cabinet, Gustavo Lopetegui. That businessman, in addition, exhibits some more insistent activity and related to Together, than Nilda Melhem.
From the computer point of view, the operation of the cartels, with a QR code, an American internet page host, an account opened and closed in Yahooimplies certain knowledge, which is not alien to Melhem, but rather points to what she calls her “boss”.
the opposing shadow
It is noteworthy that the security forces and the Buenos Aires and national justice system have not been able to discover in two weeks who was behind the posters that were posted in the heart of the country’s capital. What seems to be clear is that due to the profile of the Melhem, the maneuver has at least as protagonists, people who are in tune with the ideas of the PRO or Together for Change. It is not clear who is the “boss” mentioned by Nilda Melhem, but it seems evident that it is not aligned with Peronism.
Part of the keys are in the cell phones. Serrano should have been detained from the first day –as prosecutor Gómez Barbella claimed– and, above all, his phone seized. That would have taken Melhem much faster. And the same with respect to the lady: it is not understood that Judge De Campos has given her so much advantage. She revoked Melhem’s arrest and did not seize his cell phone to see his connections. The slowness is remarkable.
Research difficulties
Logic indicates that De Campos will quote Melhem in the week that begins. However, from what is deduced from the first brief of his lawyer, Matías Cúneo Libarona, it will be difficult for the woman to testify. The lawyer maintains that there is no crime because the damage of pasting posters on billboards has not been proven, as affirmed by the complainant Enrique Pepe Albistur. In any case –according to Cúneo– jurisdiction for a low-penalty crime such as theft or fraud for hindering the normal development of a commercial operation (signage), corresponds to the Buenos Aires justice system, where –as is known– the macrismo plays at home.
There is, however, one angle that should be considered. The posters contained an incitement to political violence, as provided for in article 212 of the Penal Code. That was the formula of the accusation presented by the Minister of Security, Aníbal Fernández. His reasoning is that there was an attack once morest the institutions, once morest the three powers of the State. The minister’s complaint falls into federal territory and is now in the hands of the Comodoro Py prosecutor, Alejandra Mangano, to whom Judge Sebastián Casanello delegated the investigation. The file is at the beginning and as in the other two investigations, nothing bodes well for rapid progress towards the culprits
