CEO of Smartmatic Denied a Visitor Visa

[JohnGideon]

Did you think Sequoia Voting was a US company? It's not and never has been. It was originally owned by an Irish company and was sold for $23M to DeLaRue, the large UK secure printing and papermaker (they print foreign currency). Last Dec. it was announced that DeLaRue sold Sequoia for a paltry $16M to Smartmatic Inc.

Smartmatic Inc. is a Florida registered corporation owned by Venezuelan citizens. The list of officers include relatives of Hugo Chavez and distant relatives of Fidel Castro.

Late last week the CEO of Smartmatic was denied a visitor visa to return to his estate in the US (Palm Beach, FL).

http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200510160629

[Metta]

1. Just like Nixon's list

of enemies.

[AX10]

2. VERY, VERY INTERESTING.

Thanks for the info.

[FogerRox]

3. yes undeed

[Cocoa]

4. is Smartmatic good or bad?

what's the prevailing thought?

[Stevepol]

6. Smartmatic has a voter verified paper ballot print-out I believe.

This is why Carter was able to audit the election to ally suspicions of rigging when he oversaw the election recently in Venezuela.

There was much suspicion that the machines were being rigged since Chavez owned them or something I believe but the audit showed that the posted results were likely right.

That's my understanding, but I'd appreciate any more light on it. I think Smartmatic is produced by Olivetti in Italy. Cd be wrong.

[JohnGideon]

9. International Poll Watchers...

did watch the polls and they did proclaim that the vote count was likely correct. The voting machines used in Venezuela are, in fact, made by Olivetti in Italy for Smartmatic. The software is written by another Venezuelan company with close ties to Chavez, Bizta.

Actually, the machines used in Venezuela are probably a lot better than the ones we get to use. They are touch-screen but they print a paper ballot that the voter can verify and take to a ballot box. No toilet paper reels. The electronic count is sent to a central tabulation area and then they hand-count the paper and compare the two.

[autorank]

5. Great post John. Wuz up with this. Wonder by CM (corpmedia) isn't

covering it. Seems it wuld be right up their alley.

hmmm...

Note www.votersunite.org is one of the very best internet election integrity sites around!

RECOMMEND THIS!!! PLEASE

[curt_b]

7. About vcrisis.com & Aleksander Boyd

The source for this story (vcrisis.com) is a project of an extreme London based anti-Chevez right wing fanatic Aleksander Boyd. If you do a google search for him, you'll find plenty of exampes of his vitrolic rhetoric and misinfomation.

"Here's one example from VHeadline;
VHeadline commentarist Carlos Herrera writes: As a result of surfing the archives of VCrisis, I discovered an Editor’s Note published on November 2, 2004 ... the author of which is Aleksander Boyd himself. He is therefore responsible for the opinions expressed.

On November 2, the Editor’s Note in VCrisis, referred to above, openly states:

"Yesterday I had a conversation with someone about Venezuela and its problems. Given the peculiar characteristics of our crisis, my interlocutor asked “what’s the solution then?” And I replied “when elected politicians treat one as an animal, how on earth can be expected that one behaves as a gentleman? The solution in my view is clear and simple: violence."

Later on in this note, the author once again advocates a violent resolution to the Venezuelan “crisis,” as he sees it:

"The other question that daunts me is, how can democracy be protected from itself? What mechanisms has the layman to simply kick out of office pariahs such as Chavez? The answer is none, and since there is no democratic mechanisms in place, violence is the only recourse left."

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=23835

[JohnGideon]

8. curt_b, you may be correct....

But (and there is always a but) I have verified the information on the denied visa with people in Venezuela. It is a fact and not fiction.

The sale of Sequoia from Jefferson-Smurfit to De La Rue and then to Smartmatic is all a fact and the prices quoted by Mr. Boyd are all factual.

Mr. Boyd has also built off of research done by the Miami Herald which is hardly a far-right wing fanatical media outlet.

[curt_b]

11. Sorry JohnGideon

Didn't mean to question your facts and didn't doubt you could verify them, just wanted to point out that VCrisis is in itself very unreliable. Their agenda is unquestionably in support of imperialist/elitist efforts in Venezuela.

[garybeck]

10. Palm Beach - Rush Limbaugh's neighbor.... n/t

[Ellipsis]

12. Nominated.

Thanks JG

[JohnGideon]

13. Media Alert - CEO of Vote-Counting Company Refused Entry into the U.S.

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Ellen Theisen, Executive Director, VotersUnite.Org
[e-mail]
[phone]

John Gideon, Information Manager, VotersUnite.Org
[e-mail]
[phone]

CEO of Vote-Counting Company Refused Entry into the U.S.

On October 14, 2005, Antonio Mujica, CEO of Smartmatic, was refused entry into the United States. His Visa was revoked by the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela. See (http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200510160629)

Ten months ago, Smartmatic, a Venezuelan-owned company, purchased Sequoia Voting Systems, Inc. for $16 million (U.S.). Sequoia Voting Systems is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic voting systems purchased in the United States. Public access to the company’s vote-counting software is prohibited by trade secret laws.

VotersUnite.Org’s Information Manager, John Gideon said, “The irony of this situation shows how irrational the administration of elections in the U.S. has become. While U.S. law allows this Venezuelan man to control the secret counting of Americans’ votes, the U.S. State Department doesn’t consider him fit to enter the country, even temporarily.”

The organization's Executive Director, Ellen Theisen, added, “It’s also ironic that when we take vote-counting to Iraq, we take it in the form of paper ballots deposited into clear plastic ballot boxes, but in our own country, vote-counting is in the form of electronic ballots and secret software controlled by a man our government has declared ineligible to set foot in the country.”

####

(Note: Sequoia Voting Systems counts a majority of the votes in the state of Washington. Their clients are Pierce, Kitsap, Snohomish and many other Washington Counties as well as jurisdictions across the country)

[Cocoa]

14. why was he denied entry?

what's the official version, and are you disputing it? I'm confused.

[JohnGideon]

15. There are two versions....

One that it was simply a hold-up and that the visa had already been approved. The other that he was denied a visa and had to return on Monday for an appeal. He supposedly now has a visa. More to follow once I get permission to quote a source. See BradBlog for more tomorrow. www.bradblog.com

[Cocoa]

16. can you tell us the basis of the denial, if it was a denial?

if you don't know, do you have any guesses?

what is your impression of what happened, overall do you think it is valid or invalid on the part of the State Dept.?

i.e., I don't know what you're driving at here.