Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN
The Mexican Ambassador to Argentina allegedly caught on camera slipping a Casanova biography into a newspaper in a book shop to steal it reportedly claims he did not mean to nick the book.
Ambassador Oscar Ricardo Valero Recio Becerra, 76, was caught allegedly trying to steal a biography of Casanova in the El Ateneo book shop in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
He has now reportedly returned to Mexico, with the country’s Secretary of the Interior Olga Sanchez Cordero saying she travelled on the same plane as him after attending the presidential possession ceremony of Alberto Fernandez, the current president of Argentina.
Cordero said: “He just came back (to Mexico). In fact, he was on the same plane as me. He also landed here in Mexico.”
She added: “I have serious doubts if he, with all the lapses of concentration, bought some CDs and did not pay for the book and when he left the bookstore the alarm went off. So I have serious doubts that he could risk the career and the prestige he has for a book.”
“I spoke to him and he told me ‘I had no intention (of stealing the book). I simply paid for the CDs and the alarm from a book went off.”
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador commented on the scandal, saying “we all make mistakes. He is a person with a clean path in exterior politics I would say.”
The 76-year-old diplomatic was captured on video slipping a Casanova biography into a newspaper in a book shop in an alleged attempt to try to steal it.
However, when he then allegedly tried to walk out of the shop with the newspaper the alarms reportedly went off and the security guards stopped him.
As he could not produce a receipt for the book the ambassador was reportedly kept in the shop until the police arrived.
After revealing who he was Becerra was reportedly released as he has diplomatic immunity.
The Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard has confirmed the Ethics Committee is analysing the case and if the video is found to be genuine Becerra will be removed from his post immediately. Becerra has reportedly been told to go home.
Becerra was the Mexican ambassador in Chile from 2001 until 2004, after which he left politics until current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador selected him for his post in Argentina.
Casanova was an 18th-Century figure who is known in popular culture as a womaniser, boasting well over 100 ‘conquests’. In recent years, his life has come under scrutiny as one of amorality, amid claims that he raped women, had sex with minors and even potentially fathered his own grandchild.
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