Pin-up girl Telpuk leaves court in Miami on Friday with her bodyguard Mario Espina. Photograph:
David Adame/AFP
Rory Carroll in Caracas, The Observer, Sunday October 5, 2008
The 'suitcase
girl' who discovered $800,000 in cash and ignited a political scandal across South America - then capitalised on it to
forge a career as a Playboy pin-up - has relived her moment of glory in a Miami courtroom.
María
del Luján Telpuk, 28, an Argentinian former airport security officer, is testifying in court about the moment she intercepted
a suitcase and provoked a row between the governments of Argentina, Venezuela and the US. Claims of high-level corruption,
cover-ups and vendettas have followed and commentators have dubbed the scandal 'Maletagate'; maleta is Spanish for suitcase.