BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -- Argentina said on Thursday the U.S. government pulled a “dirty trick” by accusing Venezuela of trying to smuggle $800,000 into Argentina to fund the former first lady’s successful campaign for president.

U.S. authorities arrested three Venezuelans and an Uruguayan they accused of trying to cover up a scandal set off in August when a Venezuelan-American businessman tried to enter Argentina with a suitcase full of undeclared cash.
Argentine customs agents seized the money and let Guido Antonini Wilson, a U.S. and Venezuelan citizen, go, but an FBI affidavit said Venezuelan agents met him after he returned home to Florida to pressure him to conceal Caracas’s role.
Argentine Justice Minister Anibal Fernandez said the U.S. probe was aimed at “smearing” President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, an ally of Venezuela’s leftist leader Hugo Chavez.
He spoke a day after Venezuela denounced the arrests as a U.S. plot intended to damage its relations with Argentina.
“This looks like a phenomenal dirty trick,” Anibal Fernandez said. “This is not innocent, it is aimed at smearing the Argentine government or the presence of Chavez in Argentina.”
Chavez attended President Fernandez’s inauguration on Monday. Argentina has close ties with Chavez, a fierce U.S. critic, and oil-rich Venezuela has invested heavily in Argentine government bonds.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Mulvihill has said the cash was meant to finance Cristina Fernandez’s campaign.
Antonini carried the money on a jet chartered by the Argentine government to take Argentine and Venezuelan officials from Caracas to Buenos Aires.
President Fernandez criticized the U.S. allegations in an appearance at the presidential palace, with a thinly veiled reference to the United States.
“This shows how others view international politics and the type of relationship they want to have with other countries,” she said. “More than friends, they want countries that work for them.”
Former President Nestor Kirchner -- whose wife succeeded him -- in August fired an official who allowed Antonini to board the jet and his aides called on Chavez to apologize for the incident. Chavez never apologized.
Argentina has sought an international arrest warrant for Antonini. U.S. officials are still processing the request.
Justice Minister Fernandez noted Antonini arrived in Buenos Aires one day before Chavez visited, saying: “If the objective was to bring in a suitcase full of cash, it could have come in on Chavez’s plane and no one would have ever found out.”
He also emphasized the case came to light thanks to Argentine authorities.
“It was the Argentine state that detained him ... he was made to leave the money behind, as customs rules require.”
The four men arrested in the United States were charged with failing to register there as agents of a foreign government, namely Venezuela. They appeared in federal court on Wednesday in Miami and said they were innocent. They face 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A fifth person was also charged but remained at large.
Antonini was not charged in the case.