Critics: Politics driving 'suitcase trial'

MIAMI, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Politics are driving a Miami trial in which a Venezuelan man is charged with illegally acting as a U.S. agent of President Hugo Chavez, critics say.

Known as "the suitcase trial" in Latin America, the trial of Franklin Duran, 40, involves allegations that he and other agents of Chavez' government went to Miami to persuade Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson of Key Biscayne, Fla., to remain quiet about an alleged attempt by Chavez to bribe Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

Critics told the Herald that U.S.-Venezuela politics are responsible the prosecution.

"The United States sees Chavez as a menace and a threat to security in the region," Bruce Bagley of the University of Miami told the newspaper. "They would dearly love to cut him down to size, and in my opinion, that is what this trial is all about."

"It's not being prosecuted because these people didn't register as foreign agents," Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, said to the Herald. "It's being prosecuted because there is something bigger going on here. I have no doubt this is coming from the U.S. government."

U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of Miami declined to comment, citing the ongoing nature of the trial.