Argentina: Former Conservative Leader Links Milei to Businessman Prosecuted for Drug Trafficking

Published at: 06/10/2025 04:51 PM

The former leader and founder of the conservative party La Libertad Avanza (LLA), Gastón Alberdi, accused the neoliberal president of Argentina, Javier Milei, and former official candidate José Luis Espert of having held meetings with Fred Machado, a businessman prosecuted by the Justice of the United States (USA) as a member of an international drug trafficking network.

Because of this scandal, Espert was forced to give up his candidacy for legislator, Telesur details. Speaking to Roberto Navarro's program at El Destape 1070, Alberdi said that he attended several meetings held at the financial consultancy firm Bull Market, owned by Buenos Aires legislator Ramiro Marra, in which he agreed with Espert, Milei and Machado.

These meetings were also attended by political figures linked to LLA, including Luis Rosales (former running mate of Espert) and Lorena Villaverde, a candidate for senator from Rio Negro, who is also facing a drug-related cause in the United States.

“It was strange to me that they presented themselves as mining entrepreneurs. There were Fred Machado, his cousin Claudio 'Lechuga' Ciccarelli, Villaverde and other businessmen. There was an obvious closeness: I saw Espert and Machado greet each other with hugs and expressions of affection such as 'I love you very much' and 'you are my soul friend',” said Alberdi.

Mazo News Team