The expert report on the cell phone of Argentine Fernando Cerimedo, chief advisor to President Rodrigo Paz, reveals the most compelling evidence the Prosecutor’s Office has for attempted femicide against the man who was also a consultant to Javier Milei and Jair Bolsonaro, among other far-right leaders in the region. In the document, in the section of text notes extracted from Cerimedo’s phone, it can be read: “Don’t tell anyone, but Enrique’s friend sold us out, remember? Nadia. Either we eliminate her now or we’re screwed. Do you know anyone who can do the job?” The writing suggests his involvement in the attack with three shots that his ex-partner, lawyer Nadia Beller, suffered Monday night at the hands of two hitmen.
Read more Belinda announces that she will play Florence Cassez in a series about the ‘Vallarta case’
Beller survived the attack and, from a private hospital, denounced the Argentine as the perpetrator. The Prosecutor’s Office then charged Cerimedo and the document from the Institute of Forensic Investigations (IDIF) is their main legal weapon in the hearing taking place this Friday afternoon in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the city where the attack occurred. The expert report, broadcast by the channel DTV, also contains chats between the advisor and someone registered as “E C G,” with whom he would coordinate the attack, according to the complaint. Among the most compromising messages is one from E C G to Cerimedo on Monday at 8:54 p.m.: “Brother, they just shot her. She is injured.”
Also appearing in the evidence obtained from the consultant’s cell phone are conversations between him and Beller. In them, Cerimedo says: “Don’t even think about it, Nadia. Don’t even think about doing stupid things. If you publish that, you ruin my life. I already told you. You take it out and you ruin my life. I’ll shoot myself, I don’t care about anything.” His ex-partner denounced from the hospital, hours after the shooting, that because of her relationship with Fernando Cerimedo she was “a witness to the dealings done by the Paz Government, Paz’s wife, his wife’s family with gold, gasoline, and diesel, with him as the operator.” Beller was a candidate for deputy for the Movement for Socialism (MAS) in the 2019 elections and later associated with conservative leaders such as Luis Fernando Camacho or Jeanine Áñez.
Margarita Arce, one of Cerimedo’s lawyers, stated that her client “did not say absolutely anything,” but assured that during the hearing the “issue of the chats would be clarified.” She categorically rejected that there were half a million bolivianos (around 44,000 dollars) in one of the advisor’s properties that the Prosecutor’s Office said it found in one of the several raids conducted on Thursday. “It is false and the money they may find in his house is for his own maintenance, he was paid by international organizations and Argentine companies. It is money legally obtained by him and can be justified through explanations,” Arce said.
Read more Riquelme’s strike and a great Valles boost Betis against Real Sociedad
The interventions on Cerimedo’s properties are carried out within the framework of a second investigation against him, for illicit enrichment. The strategist and founder of La derecha diario defended himself against this accusation with a letter dictated to his lawyer from a holding cell of the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC), where he has spent the last three nights. “They did not find a million dollars, stop saying that. That money was what I had while the contract with CAF was being finalized.” The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean denied in a statement having any kind of contract with Cerimedo.
Cerimedo also denies having a “mini farm of bots,” as the Public Ministry claimed in one of the raids. “We ask the prosecutor to deny it. What I had were mobile modems that I did not use for anything illegal and, besides, they were in boxes,” the letter says. In another point, he rejects the version Beller gave about what she was doing at the hotel door where she was attacked. The victim told local media that her ex-partner set a trap for her by calling her to the place to supposedly gather information about a victim of former president Evo Morales that would help execute arrest warrants against the coca grower.
Read more Arsenal opens the Premier with a clear victory over Coventry City (3-0)
