Intelligence agent-turned-pimp, linked to Argentina's Macri, arrested in Mexico

[sandensea]

Raúl Martins, a former Argentine intelligence agent and owner of numerous brothels in Argentina and Mexico, was arrested at the Cancún Airport pursuant to an international arrest warrant.

Martins, 71, had been convicted in July by Argentine Federal Judge María Servini de Cubría on prostitution, illicit association, and money laundering charges - charges upheld by an appellate court on September 3.

The current investigation began after his estranged daughter, Lorena Martins, filed a criminal complaint against him in 2012.

She alleged that her father, who served in the then-State Intelligence Service (SIDE) from 1985 to 2000 and who fled to Mexico in 2002, was a supporter and contributor to the 2015 campaign of current President Mauricio Macri - an allegation she corroborated with a copy of an e-mail.

"I was surprised by the arrest warrant against my father," she said last month. "I think they will kill him before he goes to prison. My father has tapes of judges and politicians inside his brothels. Many are very worried."

Mixing it up

Macri had been photographed during his 2010 honeymoon with his third wife, First Lady Juliana Awada, in Martins' Mix Sky Lounge in Cancún, Mexico - closed by Mexican authorities for prostitution in 2012 but reopened shortly afterward.

They are seen in the photo with Gabriel Conde, who likewise fled Argentina in 1998 on prostitution charges - and who became a business partner of Raúl Martins.

Macri denied any links to Martins or Conde when the photo emerged in January 2012. But Conde's father, Luis Conde, was vice president of the Boca Juniors football club when Macri served as club president from 1995 to 2007.

Macri launched his campaign for club president in 'Shampoo' - the club owned by Gabriel Conde, whose 1998 police raid led to his becoming a fugitive.

According to Daniel Schnitman, head of the anti-human trafficking NGO Alerta Vida, "Macri and Martins have known each other for 20 years."

"People voted for a president with 6 police files for sexual exploitation. It's shameful; they don't know he is."

Records show Martins was last in Argentina between June 2017 and February 2018 despite an arrest warrant against him.

Another prominent Macri backer, Ismael "Peque" García, was likewise arrested this January on prostitution charges stemming from the 2016 death of a minor.

García was a major bundler for Macri's right-wing "Let's Change" coalition, and was on stage during his 2015 victory celebration.

Macri is currently running for re-election amid the most serious economic crisis in the country in two decades; he trails his opponent, Alberto Fernández, by around 20 points in most polls.

At; https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.infobae.com%2Fsociedad%2Fpoliciales%2F2019%2F10%2F04%2Fdetuvieron-en-mexico-a-raul-martins-un-famoso-espia-que-regenteaba-prostibulos%2F

Macri and First Lady Juliana Awada (middle) during their 2010 Cancún honeymoon in Raúl Martins' Mix Sky Lounge. Martins' business partner and fellow Argentine fugitive on prostitution charges, Gabriel Conde, is beside Macri.

Martins is the figure at left; his former State Intelligence colleague and, according to Martins' daughter, silent partner, Antonio Stuisso, at right.

Martins' arrest, and his likely extradition to Argentina, has become an unexpected political headache for Macri, who is running for re-election amid the worst recession in two decades.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Better for this news to hit now rather than after the election, right? Wow, it's so strange.

We learned from reading the news provided earlier about Macri's time-worn obsession with coercion of any and everyone who could do him any good, with "encouragement." How courageous that one soul was who went public with what they had been doing to him too long, and brutally.

As soon as this Martins character loomed into view in this post, there was scribbling all OVER the wall. He must have a fabulous vault of material reaching to the ceiling, all there for the use of his government friends seeking office or re-election. To know there was also the actual situation under his auspices for a "snuff film" of a minor is beyond nightmarish.

That composition without a doubt must be closer to the truth, symbolically and in spirit, than they could have imagined. True villains, born villains, eternal villains. They have enjoyed their time on the planet far too long, have done far too much damage.

God only knows how many tortured souls are crying out for their lives to be returned to them as they were before these monsters destroyed them.

OMG. What a rogue's gallery.

Is it too early to tell how this latest is being received inside the country?

Found an interesting article on Martins from earlier in the week:

Raúl Martins was arrested in Mexico, a famous spy who ran brothels
He is prosecuted for being the head of an illegal association. Now he must face an extradition trial, unless he decides to return to the country of his own accord
October 3, 2019

https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/policiales/2019/10/04/detuvieron-en-mexico-a-raul-martins-un-famoso-espia-que-regenteaba-prostibulos/

(Can't believe he was brazen/stupid enough to name on of his nightclubs "Top Secret." He was really having a holiday being connected to intelligence, wasn't he?)

[sandensea]

2. According to Lorena Martins (the pimp's daughter) Macri often sought underage company at his brothel

I doubt there's any proof of that - but of all her claims about which evidence has emerged, every single one has been corroborated.

She's a brave lady.

Kudos also to President López Obrador of Mexico. Martins and his Cancún brothel were, according to a Mexican journalist, "untouchable" while Peña Nieto was is office because (among other things) Martins contributed generously to the PRI - just as he contributed to Macri.

The election of López Obrador apparently changed that, which is why this 7 year-old case is finally moving. Macri's imminent departure from office is likewise helping move the case in Argentina.

We'll see where this one goes.

Thanks as always for your replies and research, Judi. I'm surprised Trump wasn't one of Martins' clients (although then again, I'm sure Cheeto has his own).