Stella Lugo Betancourt’s ties with the Iranian airline Mahan Air

The retention of the Venezuelan-Iranian plane in Ezeiza, Argentina, has exposed the ties of the ambassador of Nicolás Maduro in the Latin American country, Stella Lugo Betancourt, with the Iranian airline Mahan Air.

The journalist Natasha Niebieskikwiat reviewed in The clarin that Lugo Betancourt was one of the officials who promoted the agreement between the Maduro government and the Iranian company.

In 2019, when she was serving as Minister of Tourism of the Chavista government, she promoted the contracts with Mahan Air. This airline was the owner of the Boeing 747-300 that was later transferred to Venezuela and is now immobilized in Ezeiza.

Since 2011, this airline has been sanctioned by the United States and European countries for providing services to these groups considered terrorists. The US Treasury Department accuses the company of transporting weapons, equipment, funds and personnel of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, also known as the Quds Force, and Hezbollah.

But despite this red alert, in April 2019, Stella Lugo traveled to China to participate in the Shanghai World Travel Fair, where she promoted an agreement with Mahan Air, reported El Clarín.

Lugo Betancourt is also a promoter of the trips that the company Conviasa began to make to Argentina. This airline has also been sanctioned by the United States since 2020, accused of being used in the allegedly corrupt operations of the Venezuelan regime.

“It does not seem to be a coincidence that one of the first Mahan Air flights to Venezuela took place in April 2020 to the Falcón state, a province that was governed for two decades by the Stella Lugo family clan,” mentioned the Argentine media.

“Another curious fact about Lugo is that Lugo’s accreditation as ambassador to Argentina – that is, her rise in rank – was registered in the Foreign Ministry on June 8. It’s the same day the plane scandal broke. In that case, President Alberto Fernández will have to receive her, as usually happens with the entire diplomatic corps, to take her credentials.”

For more information, visit The clarin

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