Man In The Middle! Details Of The Mysterious Venezuelans Behind Kenyan Elections.
“Jose Camargo! The man in the middle. He is the one who determined the winner of the Kenyan elections.”
Jose Camargo had been arrested in the recent past at JKIA alongside two others who had come to his rescue, and released after IEBC intervened, saying he was legally contracted to aid in the deployment of technology in the Kenyan elections.
When his name appeared on one of the results declaration forms, during a shocking live demonstration in the concluded presidential petition case set to be ruled today, the Venezuelan gained instant fame across the country.
However, it was later revealed that the printed QR Codes had the name Jose Camargo printed on one side, and one of the election officials had mistakenly taken a photo of its overlay on the declaration form.
However, the Kenya Directorate of Criminal Investigation, DCI, through its director George Kinoti had indicated earlier when they had arrested him, that their investigations had established that the Venezuelan national identified was in the country solely for personal business and not that of IEBC.
He said an individual identified as Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed, CEO of Seemless Limited, had contacted him to join his office in Nairobi for work-related activities but not with the IEBC.
Kinoti said further investigations had established that the other two Rodriguez Garcia and Sosa Suarez had arrived in the country on July 15 on expired passports ahead of Castellanos' arrival.
However, it was established that the validity of Venezuelan passports was extended for five years in 2019 following a national crisis.
Emerging details of the employment history of one of the Venezuelans has since indicated that the Panama-based technology guru has worked for Smartmatic International B.V, the firm contracted by the electoral commission to supply election technology, for over ten years.
Joel Gustavo Rodriguez was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when he, alongside his colleague Sisa Suarez, responded to a distress call from Jose Camargo Castellanos who was detained on arrival from Panama.
His LinkedIn profile identified him as the Global Service Deployment Manager placing him at the core of Smartmatic operations, discounting reports by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that he was not an employee of the election technology provider.
Rodriguez' employment history shows that he served as Smarmatic's Global Services Warehouse and Logistic Global Manager for over four years between May 2012 to March 2017.
As the Global Services Senior Development Manager, he is tasked with managing and directing the Field Services Warehouse and Logistics and Technology Deployment of the company's business operations.
Smartmatic, also referred as Smartmatic Corp. or Smartmatic International or Smartmatic SGO Group, is a multinational company that builds and implements electronic voting systems. The company also produces smart cities solutions, including public safety and public transportation, identity management systems for civil registration and authentication products for government applications.
The company was contracted in 2004 for the automation of electoral processes in Venezuela. Since 2004, its election technology has been used in local and national elections in Africa, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Ecuador, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.