On 27th January the Argentine national government announced that it had signed an agreement with Iran to move forward with the investigation of the AMIA case, the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Centre, in conjunction with Tehran. Congress voted the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) into law on 28th February, with 131-113 votes of approval in the Chamber of Deputies and 39-31 in the Senate.

Touted by the government as the only way forward in the current stalemate that the case is in, the MoU has sparked great controversy among politicians and within the Jewish community. Will an agreement with Tehran be a step in the right direction, or should any negotiation with the middle eastern country be out of the question?

Background

The aftermath of the terrorist attack (courtesy of Wikipedia)

On 18th July 1994, a van packed with 275kg of explosives blew up about five metres in front of the Argentina Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) centre, causing the building to collapse. The blast killed 85 people and injured some 300 others.

The attack has been informally linked to several other bombings. The first happened at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, and was the deadliest terrorist attack in the country until the AMIA case. The Islamic Jihad Organisation, which has links to Hezbollah, has claimed responsibility for the 1992 episode. Two other bombings potentially related to the AMIA attack occurred in London shortly after the 1994 episode, one outside the Israeli Embassy and another outside a Jewish cultural centre. Palestinian suspects were arrested for the London attacks.

Investigations into the AMIA bombing have been unsuccessful, to say the least. Although many suspects have been blamed for the attack -including the Iranian government, none have been convicted.

With respect to the series of fumbled investigations following the bombing, Carlos Menem, president from 1989-1999, has been accused of accepting US$10m from Iran to hinder investigations. The allegation was made by a former Iranian spy and triggered a 2002 investigation of Menem’s secret bank accounts in Switzerland that were also scrutinised for arms smuggling links.

Immediately following the 1994 attack, Argentina tried to identify a ‘local connection,’ who conspired with assumedly foreign terrorists. Officers from the Buenos Aires police department were initially arrested for this charge, although all were acquitted in 2004.

According to a 2003 report by the Argentine Intelligence Secretary (SIDE) on an investigation aided by the FBI, the attack was most likely a suicide bombing by Hezbollah member Ibrahim Hussein Berro, although no forensic evidence was supplied to back this claim.

Judge Juan José Galeano, initially in charge of the investigations, was removed from the case in 2003 and impeached two years later after being accused of mishandling proceedings and a video that aired on public TV showed him bribing suspects for information.

In 2005 President Néstor Kirchner called the investigations a “national disgrace” and issued a decree establishing a system for compensation to the victims. One year later an Appeals Court announced that previous rulings on the case had been untruthful and had only served to cover up mistakes of government officials in the aftermath of the attack.

The Argentine government officially accused Iran of backing the attack and Hezbollah of carrying it out in 2006, influenced by US information obtained through Wikileaks and with Israeli approval. It called for the extradition of six Iranian citizens, many of whom are high-ranking governmental officials. The accused immediately rejected the allegations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali Hosseini responded that the claims were a “Zionist-American conspiracy.”

Iran has never admitted responsibility for the AMIA attack and has emphasised the need for those culpable to be punished; however, it never extradited the requested nationals for questioning

President Fernández meeting with the victims (courtesy of Casa Rosada)

In 2010 and 2011 President Fernández repeatedly urged Iran to cooperate with Argentine justice. She proposed an investigatory procedure that would have allowed for a third country to mediate the proceedings. Iran rejected this suggestion but agreed to an agreement on bilateral terms, which the MoU eventually brought to fruition.

No more real developments were made until last year when President Fernández announced that her government and that of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would meet to discuss the case.

Then came the announcement of the MoU with Iran and its passage into law last month.

The Law 

The MoU was signed on 27th January in Adis Abeba, Ethiopia by foreign affairs ministers Ali Akbar Salehi of Iran and Héctor Timerman of Argentina and made public that day. The document was printed in Farsi, Spanish, and English, with the English version to serve as the default document in case of interpretative conflicts.

The MoU has nine main points (see below), with three of most concern: the establishment of a Truth Commission, to be comprised of five members– two chosen by each country and one mutually decided; the arrangement for questioning to be held in Tehran, where Argentine officials will be able to interrogate Iranian suspects; and the call for a free exchange of evidence between Iran and Argentina and with the Commission.

After the agreement was signed, Timerman passed it to the Argentine Congress, which met to deliberate the legislation and approved it in an off-term meeting before its regular sessions began.

Timerman asserted that for the first time federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral and Prosecutor Alberto Nisman will have the opportunity to interrogate the Iranians accused of the attack and that the agreement will advance the case that is currently “paralysed”. He added that without this step, it would be impossible to move forward with gathering testimonies and issuing convictions.

Though apparently still on board with the MoU, which was sent to the Iranian parliament for approval two weeks ago, on 12th February the Iranian government announced that Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who is suspected of involvement in the case, would not be subject to interrogation in the coming proceedings, a new indication of non-cooperation.

The Controversy 

Upon the announcement of Timerman’s signature of the MoU with Tehran, fervent outcry erupted from representatives of the Jewish community in Argentina, which is the largest in Latin America.

In general, those who reject the memorandum claim that involving the Iranian government, which itself has been accused of instigating the attack, is unjust and unproductive. They also think that involving a Truth Commission to evaluate the evidence that Argentina has already confirmed compromises its sovereignty, although the Commission’s suggestions to Argentina about the case will be non-binding.

Leaders of the Delegation of Israelite Associations (DAIA) and the AMIA immediately rejected the agreement and claimed that it even “paved the way for a third attack” on Argentina because the country had subjected itself to foreign, and specifically Iranian, input.

DAIA head Julio Schlosser explained that Iran should not be trusted for negotiations, as it denies the Holocaust, is condemned (especially by the US and Israel) for its apparent nuclear arms development programme, and primarily, as the accused are Iranian nationals.

Tribute to the victims of the AMIA (courtesy of Casa Rosada)

Before Congress ratified the MoU, AMIA President Guillermo Borger publicly warned that moving forward with the agreement “is to associate ourselves with the Iranian theocracy, subjugate our judicial system, and to forget the 85 deaths.” He declared that the law would be a step forward, “but a step toward a precipice.”

In response to the sovereignty questions, President Fernandez explained, “Argentine justice will not be obstructed and much less will (the MoU) reduce our sovereignty,” and that Argentine justice officials will carry out the investigations in Tehran under international observation and representatives, “whose objective is to ensure the due legal process” is fulfilled. She furthered, “there is no renunciation of sovereignty when a judge is transferred to another territory.” The president later defended Iran’s involvement, saying, “What will we say then, as Argentines, ‘No, we won’t have a dialogue (with Iran) by principle’? It seems to me that dialogue is a fundamental principle for Argentina, in matters of international politics and those of great conviction.”

Israel has also pointedly rejected the MoU, and its foreign affairs ministry publicly stated that it does not understand what the agreement could bring about for Argentine justice.

According to Buenos Aires sociologist Marcelo Ayos, the agreement with Iran was not only irresponsible, but should not be trusted to resolve the case. He explained that, “the (Argentine) government has not differentiated between political decisions and the search for the truth in the past,” and that the MoU could represent a similar move. To him, the poorly planned accord with Iran, “is a new attack against Argentine society,” in itself.

On the other hand, supporters of the MoU believe that cooperation with Tehran is the only logical move forward for the AMIA case. Many of these supporters are families of the bombing victims. Victims’ families and friends in organisations 18-J and Memoria Activa generally accept the MoU and are optimistic about its potential.

Several victims’ family members shared their opinions with newspaper La Nación. 18-J representative Gerardo Beer commented that the MoU represents a “little light at the end of the tunnel for the case,” and explained, “For us, those that have family lost in that terrible attack, the governments of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina (Fernández de) Kirchner were those that did the most for the case that has any relevance. We have to give them a vote of confidence…”

Adriana Reisfeld, President of Memoria Activa, said she supported the MoU although she does not “have confidence in anything after 19 years” without finding those culpable of the attack. She added, “What is important is that we don’t wait 200 years for Iran to finally sit down (to proceed with the MoU requirements).”

Repercussions

President Fernández said in respect to the MoU that Argentina “would never let the tragedy (the AMIA attack) become a chess piece in the game of wider geopolitical interests.” However, despite the federal government’s assertion that the MoU’s sole purpose is to further the investigative processes into the AMIA case, the Iran-Argentina pact could have international ramifications visible if, in nothing else, Argentina’s foreign policy.

President Fernández pays tribute to the AMIA victims (courtesy of Casa Rosada)

Contextualised within a political climate in which countries like the US and Israel have frozen relations with Iran and are pressuring it to stop its nuclear arms programme, according to some analysts, Argentina’s MoU with Iran represents a shift in foreign policy. For these critics, Argentina is drifting away from Western-leaning tendencies to informal alignment not only with Iran, but also with sympathisers like Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador.

Andrés Malamud, researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon, asserted to the Institute of Social Welfare (IPS) that the MoU move was not neutral. “On the contrary, in the eyes of the West, the memorandum constitutes an implicit alliance with Iran.” He explained that the foreign policy of the current Argentine president and her predecessor were essentially on par with that of the US, but now Argentine international relations would be considered non-Western.

However, Argentine legislators like Senator Daniel Filmus insist that the MoU does not, in fact, represent a dramatic policy shift, nor any sort of greater alliance with the country that “negates the Holocaust, fails to recognise Israel’s right to exist, and that persecutes minorities,” but it will simply catalyse the AMIA case investigations.

According to Ayos, in terms of international consequences, although the issue may not represent a direct policy shift, “(The Argentine government) is passing through one of the most vulnerable chapters of recent times,” and runs high risks in negotiating bilaterally with Iran.

President Fernández also explained in her speech concerning the MoU that Argentina is not the only country currently engaging with Iran. She pointed out that earlier this year the US vice-president announced to the UN Security Council that the country was itself preparing for a bilateral meeting with Iran concerning other issues.

Depending on how the Argentina-Iran MoU is handled, its main clauses could be referenced in future cases of international terrorist attacks. If the establishment of a Truth Commission, the free-flow of information between the countries, and the interrogations prove successful, and assuming that the resulting recommendations are adopted, the precedent could become a benchmark for similar issues. However, keeping in mind almost two decades of general case mishandlings, and that Iran continues to deny all connections to the AMIA attacks and has failed to cooperate with Argentine justice in the past, only time will tell.

Click here to find out what Argentines think about the agreement.

Foreign Affairs Minister Héctor Timerman arrived in London this morning to discuss the sovereignty of the Falklands/Malvinas. While a meeting with British Foreign Secretary William Hague was not on Timerman’s official agenda, he expressed interest in meeting with him under the condition that there would be no Falklands/Malvinas representative present.

Timerman asserted in an interview with Página 12 that he would not meet with a governing body from the islands because it is “an illegal government.”

President Fernández and Minister Timerman (photo courtesy of Globovisión)

“There is not a country in the world that accepts English sovereignty in the Malvinas,” he said.

Argentine ambassador to the UK Alicia Castro also stated that Argentina will not take part in any negotiations involving a third party.

Last Thursday, Timerman rejected Hague’s offer to meet because of the stipulation that islanders be present at the meeting.

The agenda did include a meeting on Wednesday with European groups supporting open discussion regarding the issue.

In addition to discussing the issue of which nation lays claim to the islands, Timerman wants to find out if the UK has nuclear arms on the Falklands/Malvinas.

“Great Britain has invaded Argentina four times,” he said in the interview with Página 12. “The colonial presence of Britain in the Malvinas is an imposition and the world does not accept it.”

In March, a referendum will be held on the Falklands/Malvinas where the islanders will voice their opinions regarding the islands’ sovereignty.

Foreign Affairs Minister Héctor Timerman met with Jewish community members and family of the victims of the 1994 AMIA bombing yesterday in an effort to assuage doubts regarding the bilateral agreement signed on Sunday between Argentina and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The agreement, signed by Timerman and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, outlines the procedure by which six Iranian citizens will be interrogated for their alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Mutual Israeli Argentine Society (AMIA) which left 85 dead and 300 wounded.

Jewish community leaders such as Guillermo Borger of AMIA and Julio Schlosser of the Delegation of Israeli Argentine Associations (DAIA) as well as relatives of the victims had initially rejected the agreement, citing concern that holding the interrogations in Tehran will delay the process and would constitute a “cession of sovereignty.”

Timerman took the time yesterday to meet with the concerned parties, as well as their lawyers, to discuss the process by which the Iranians implicated in the bombing will be questioned by Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral and Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, both Argentines. The interrogations will also be overseen by a Truth Commission consisting of five non-Argentine or Iranian legal figures, two chosen by each country and one agreed upon by both.

“The fact is that the Iranian suspects will be seated on the bench and will submit to the interrogation under the terms of Argentine law, before an Argentine judge and an Argentine prosecutor”, Timerman affirmed yesterday. “Whoever maintains that this is a cession of sovereignty is either acting in bad faith or is ignorant.”

After the meeting, Borger told Página/12 “the Minister was very well disposed to our concerns”.

Schlosser echoed these sentiments, stating that Timerman “explained to us that this Commission […] will not interfere with the actions of the Court, and that the intervening Court is Argentine, by way of the prosecution”.

The Jewish community leadership took the opportunity to express their desire to see Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón and Chilean jurist Claudio Grossman named to the Truth Commission. Garzón formerly served on Spain’s central criminal court and called for the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998 for the alleged torture and killing of Spanish citizens. He is currently heading WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s legal team. Grossman is the current dean of the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington D.C., and was former president of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.

Speaking of the meeting, Timerman said “It was very intense work with the families and the community leadership. I believe we cleared up a few key points”.

Timerman confirmed today that Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi is among the suspects and will be called to testify before the prosecution. He also denied rumours that a third party, such as Venezuela or Syria, was involved in the drafting of the agreement.

“We are trying to find a way to advance the cause, which has gone 19 years without being resolved”, the Minister said in a press conference. “We’ve made significant progress, where for the first time the Iranian suspects will be brought before an Argentine judge.”

Talks held between Foreign Affairs Minister Hector Timerman and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi this week were described as “productive” and “constructive” by a press release published today.

“The work session on the terrorist attack perpetrated against AMIA on 18 July 1994 was highly productive in the task of advancing the judicial procedures in the AMIA case,” stated the press release.

The attack on the Jewish cultural centre in downtown Buenos Aires caused 85 deaths and over 300 injured and was linked to Hezbollah and the Iranian government of the time by the Argentine Justice system.

The meeting took place in Zurich on 3 January and is the third meeting of the two men to be held in Switzerland in recent weeks. Last month, DAIA, the political representation of the Jewish community in Argentina, had met with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to discuss the AMIA bombings.

Monument to AMIA bombing victims in Buenos Aires (Wikimedia Commons)

The president of DAIA, Julio Schlosser, told La Nación on that occasion that “the president assures us that the investigation of the attack against the AMIA will not be detained and the result of the dialogue with Iran will be transmitted to Congress and the families of the victims in due time”.

The press release concerning this week’s meeting also stated that both ministers “agreed to meet again soon” to continue discussing the case.

The AMIA bombings have been on the agenda again after President Fernández announced last September that Argentina would open dialogues with Iran. The relations between Argentina and Iran had been strained by the issue despite a healthy trade relationship.

In 2006 Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman asked for the arrest of Ahmad Vahidi, then Iranian Minister of Defence, Alí Fallahijan the former Information Minister, former government aide Mohsen Rezai and two former diplomatic staff, Ahmad Reza Ashgari and Moshen Rabbani as well as Lebanese citizen Imad Fayez Mughniyah.

The Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement yesterday rejecting British Prime Minister David Cameron’s latest comments on the Falklands/Malvinas conflict.

The official statement starts by repudiating “the military threats of [British] Prime Minister David Cameron related to the illegal occupation that Great Britain has exercised over the Malvinas Islands for the last 180 years.” It then goes on to request Cameron to “not use the legitimate and peaceful claims that we have made against the usurpation of part of our territory and against colonialism as an excuse to keep supporting the arms industry instead of resolving the severe social crisis which Europe is going through. People need more work and less wars.”

The ministry’s response comes after an interview Cameron gave the BBC, in which the British Prime Minister said his government would fight to keep the islands. ”Of course we would [fight for the islands] and we have strong defences in place on the Falkland Islands -that is absolutely key, that we have fast jets stationed there, we have troops stationed on the Falklands,” he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement finished with a call for the UK “to accept the resolutions of the United Nations to resolve the Malvinas Issue in a peaceful way.”

The conflict between Argentina and the UK over the sovereignty of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands came back to the forefront last week after president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner published an open letter to Prime Minister Cameron on the British press, denouncing the “occupation” of the islands in 1833 and calling for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Prime Minister Cameron responded by insisting on the British position of upholding the principle of self-determination, and putting the issue of sovereignty to the islanders on a referendum to be held in March.

On 2nd October, the Argentine naval training vessel ARA Frigate Libertad was seized by Ghanaian authorities when it docked in the port of Tema on the first stop of what was meant to be a diplomatic trip down the west coast of Africa. The order to detain the ship was issued by the Commercial Court of Accra, ruling in favour of the Cayman Islands-based hedge fund NML Capital. The group claims it is owed US$370m by the Argentine government.

Frigate Libertad in 2007 (Wikimedia)

When the case was brought to court on 9th October, Argentina’s claims that the Libertad, as a military vessel, was immune from any foreign court’s jurisdiction were rejected by NML Capital’s lawyer Ace Anan Ankomah, who stated that Argentina “had already forfeited the immunity associated with this dispute by virtue of its debt.”

‘Vulture Funds’ and the 2001 Crisis

NML Capital, a subsidiary of the investment organisation Elliot Capital Management founded by North American businessman Paul Singer, bought Argentine bonds at a discount during the economic crisis in the hopes of being paid back in full when the economy recovered. The Argentine government defaulted on US$100bn of its debts in 2001, stating it was economically impossible to meet them.

Argentina restructured its debt in 2005, extending to its creditors an offer of about 30 cents on the dollar. In 2010 President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner repeated the offer to investors who had initially rejected it, thus settling 93% of claims against the Argentine government. A handful of so-called “vulture funds”, however, including NML Capital, continue seeking to be paid in full.

“Between 2005 and 2010, 93% of debt was renegotiated with creditors, leaving 5% in the hands of vulture funds dedicated to extorting countries by buying their debt for small change and with usurious methods demanding payment beyond all logic”, said Foreign Affairs Minister Hector Timerman in a press conference on 26th October.

The predicament of the Libertad is nothing new for Argentina; since 2004, vulture funds have attempted to seize 28 of the nation’s assets, including state-owned property abroad, artwork, the weather satellite Acquarius, and even the presidential airplane, known as ‘Tango 01’. The Argentine government, so far, has won all these cases after lengthy judicial processes in foreign courts.

This most recent injunction issued by the Ghanaian court referred to the Argentine government’s refusal to pay US$1.7bn in judgements awarded to NML Capital by New York District Judge Thomas Griesa in February.

The South American nation is not the only target of Singer and Elliot Capital Management. In the late 1990’s the company, through its subsidiary Kensington International Inc., purchased US$32.6m in loan debt incurred by the Republic of Congo for about US$2.3m, according to Bloomberg News. When the African nation said that it could not pay, the British High Court awarded Kensington US$39m to be paid from the country’s oil sales.

In the early ‘90s, Singer and Elliot Management purchased US$20m worth of Peruvian debt for only $11.4m, in a situation closely paralleling that of Argentina’s.  When Peru was forced to restructure its debt, Elliot Management sued for full payment plus interest on its investments. The Peruvian government ultimately agreed to pay the US$56.3m awarded to Elliot Management by a Belgian court, nearly quintuple its initial investment.

“Our primary goal is to find bankruptcy situations where our ability to control or influence the process is the driver of value. That’s our favourite”, Singer told Bloomberg Markets in 2008.

Singer, who serves as a board member for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Harvard Medical School, and the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, among others, is a prominent donor to the US Republican Party, and donated US$1m to the super PAC Restore Our Future, Inc., in support of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney. It was revealed last month by The Nation that in 2011 Ann Romney, the former candidate’s wife and would-be First Lady, had invested US$1m in Elliot Capital Management.

Frigate Libertad docked in Buenos Aires (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Dialogue, Civil or Otherwise

Since the Libertad’s detainment over a month ago, delegates from Argentina have engaged in dialogue with Ghanaian authorities regarding the ship’s release, even bringing the matter to the attention of the United Nations. On 22nd October, Timerman met with Gert Rosenthal, president of the UN Security Council (of which Argentina will be a member beginning in January), although Rosenthal implied that it was not the Security Council’s place to intervene.

Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alhaji Mumuni discussed the debacle, stating “It is true that as a nation and, particularly this ministry, we feel very embarrassed about it, especially given the fact that this trip was arranged through diplomatic channels and we have excellent relations with Argentina. But there’s nothing we can do about it because we are a nation of laws”, he told Vibe Ghana, referring to NML Capital’s use of the nation’s courts to detain the vessel.

On the same day as Timerman’s trip to the UN, the Navy confirmed that 281 members of the 326-strong crew would return to Buenos Aires on an Air France charter flight. Two days later the sailors were escorted by local police and members of the armed forces from the Libertad to the airport, in a scene Clarin reporters described as reminiscent of a “secret service” operation. They arrived in Ezeiza International Airport minutes after midnight on Thursday, 25th October.

A skeleton crew of 45 sailors including the captain, however, remains aboard the Libertad indefinitely, and tensions are escalating after over a month of being forcibly moored in Tema. On 10th October Port Authority officials were met by armed Argentine sailors when they attempted to board the Libertad to discuss moving the ship to another, less commercially important berth. It is estimated that the Libertad has been costing the port about US$60,000 per day in lost revenue.

The Port Authority of Tema has stated that as of Monday 12th November, the ship will remain without power, water, or fuel supplies. According to La Nación, the confrontation and the Port’s subsequent decision to cut the ship’s power have prompted the Ministry of Defence to consider whether or not to send a new contingent of sailors to relieve those who have been there for over 40 days.

Timerman and Minister of Defence Arturo Puricelli stated in a press conference on Monday that if the Libertad was not released by Ghanaian authorities upon the embargo’s expiration on Tuesday 13th November, they would have to take the case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The government has remained steadfast in its decision not to pay the US$20m bond that Ghanaian judges say would free the ship, despite the pleas of some sailors to do so.

Fernando Morales of the Navy League told Radio 10 “Forty-four men have been there for a long time now and it is not a normal situation.”

What do Argentines think about the situation the Frigate Libertad is in? Click here to find out.

The ministers of Foreign Affairs, Héctor Timerman, and Defence, Arturo Puricelli, gave a press conference today in which they detailed the current situation of the Frigate Libertad and the government’s plan to refer the dispute to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany.

Timerman stated that tomorrow, Tuesday 13th November, is “the deadline for the Ghanaian government to lift the embargo” on the vessel, and if they do not comply “on Wednesday Argentina will be authorised to submit the case to the Sea Law Tribunal.” The minister said that both the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and the Indian diplomats currently presiding the UN Security Council “advised Argentina to refer the matter to international tribunals as soon as possible,” and that “all the available diplomatic and legal actions within Ghanaian and international law have been adopted after the illegitimate embargo.”

Puricelli, in turn, informed that the frigate remains without electricity or water supply, and that a meeting was held on Thursday 8th November between the commander of the ship and Ghanaian naval and port authorities. In that meeting, it was decided to keep holding periodical encounters “to ensure the peaceful coexistence between the different actors.” He pointed out that, at the time the press conference was being held, the commander of the frigate and Ghanaian authorities were having a working lunch. This morning, the ship’s commander also reiterated his request for water and electricity supply to be reestablished.

The Defence Minister confirmed that he personally instructed the crew to “display their regulation weapons” when Ghanaian officials attempted to board the vessel last Wednesday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Héctor Timerman is due today to begin talks with the United Nations in New York with aims to release the frigate Libertad which is currently being held in Ghana in disputes over Argentina’s debt defaults.

The foreign affairs minister has been sent by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to meet with the president of the UN Security Council, Gert Rosenthal, to discuss the Argentine navy training frigate which has been seized in the port of Tema in the west African country.

Rosenthal made a statement earlier today on the meeting: “We had a conversation about this incident. I spoke to the minister and he also knows that the Security Council is concerned with the maintenance of world peace and security and that this case is not exactly threatening world peace.” However, he continued, “this is an issue which concerns us very much, not only as the Security Council but as a UN member country; clearly there is a problem of international law affecting and threatening not only Argentina but every country in the world.”

Timerman is also expected to meet with Ban-Ki Moon, Secretary General of the UN, and president of the UN General Assembly, Vuk Jeremić. In an effort to resolve the crisis, Argentina has also sent deputy ministers of defence and foreign affairs, Alfredo Forti and Eduardo Zain, to Ghana.

The Libertad, which was sent to Ghana on a training mission at the beginning of this month, was seized by port officials in Tema under a court order from an investment group from the Cayman Islands which claims that Buenos Aires owes more than US$370m. NML Capital Limited, the company in question, bought Argentine bonds at a discount during the economic crisis in the early 2000s, and Argentina later defaulted on those debts.

Although it has been claimed that a bond of US$20m would allow for the immediate release of the ship, Argentina claims that the vessel was protected by immunity that Ghana, being a signatory to international conventions, should have recognised.

Timerman claims that the capture of the ship was, “from an international law point of view, completely illegal”.

It was confirmed at midday that the majority of the 326 crew members, who are mostly Argentine but also from other Latin American nations and South Africa, will be allowed to return home, leaving just a skeleton crew including the ship’s captain. The sailors are expected to land in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

Although the ship has been seized, the crew are reportedly permitted to leave the vessel, with frequent visits to nearby shopping malls and beach resorts. One crew member was allegedly injured while playing football and required hospital treatment.

It’s Friday and it’s a national holiday again!

One of the many that you love so much because you get to enjoy an extra day of doing nothing!

Now, I could start one of my never ending diatribes about how you should know that this is a very important holiday for Argentina and that it’s more than just little white and blue flags on the car’s roof, but in all honesty I’m tired and I have writer’s block.

Here’s a link to the May Revolution, which took place exactly 202 years ago. I know you won’t read it, but in case you have an epiphany and decide you want to learn more about the country you live in, there it is.

Now put down your mate (or 5 pm beer), grab some hot chocolate and churros and celebrate like it’s 1809.

Oh, and like the Weekly News Roundup on Facebook and share it with your friends! If we reach 1000 soon, we’re throwing a party at my place.

This is what you need to know:

• 

  Former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe was close to being non-assassinated this week. (Photo/Wikipedia)

  EVERYBODY PANIC!!! Because apparently not enough shit goes down here every week, you can now add “attempted political assassination” to the long list of shenanigans taking place in this country. As former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, considered by many a Latin American mirror image of George W. Bush, readied to give a speech at a leadership conference in the Gran Rex theater this week, a maintenance man working on the venue’s third floor came across two bombs that had been concealed carefully behind a lamp and had been rigged to explode at 4:30 pm on Wednesday, when Uribe’s speech was supposed to be taking place. After a bomb squad defused both explosives, flamboyantly fierce Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide showed up at the scene to make a scene and engaged in an endless soliloquy filled with over-the-top drama-queenism, explaining that had these bombs gone off not only they would have killed thousands of people but would have also hindered Argentina’s image around the world. The incident was immediately echoed by the world’s largest media outlets, from CNN to Reuters, from The Telegraph to Al Jazeera, and Buenos Aires was once again center stage on the world chalkboard.

• NO, WAIT. NO ONE PANIC. False alarm, everyone! Turns out it was actually just firecrackers! It seems that someone fucked up big time and confused what is commonly known here as bomba de estruendo (a loud firecracker usually set off by mischievous kids during New Year’s Eve and braindead hooligans during their favorite football game) with an Al Qaeda incendiary device, automatically ridiculing the entire police force before the eyes of the world for crying wolf when what they had found was actually a lamb. “It appears the whole plan was to startle the audience, but the bomb had no destructive power,” said the Federal Police, contradicting Oyarbide’s previous elaborate ramblings.  ”Well, it appears it was nothing more than a stink bomb,” the judge said annoyingly at a press conference later and worried that this whole fiasco had affected his reputation. Oh, judge. You Tube has you singing cuarteto (while probably inebriated) with La Mona Jimenez. Trust me, no one cares about this.

• EVERYBODY PANIC!!! The UK is apparently keen on blowing us all up and has deployed a nuclear submarine to the South Atlantic to protect the Malvinas/Falklands from Argentina’s invasion back in 1982, sensationalist newspaper The Sun says. And these guys illegally hack phones. Believe me, they know their shit. So something so terrifying and politically convenient for both nations has got to be true. Also, the local press has made sure that you understand it is a NUCLEAR submarine. You know, as in “nuclear” bomb. *wink, wink*
• NO, WAIT. NO ONE PANIC.  It’s called a nuclear submarine because it is nuclear-powered, not because it carries nuclear weapons. The local media, clearly disappointed by the lack of imminent terror, found another way to scare us all and started focusing on the destructive power of its tomahawk missiles. I guess their point is that the British are trying to kill us all.

• Also, I’m intrigued about this Argentine guy who will attempt to “symbolically” unite Argentina with the islands by swimming all the way from mainland to Port Stanley (or, as the Twitter nitpickers just told me: “He’s actually going to swim from island to island, you idiot!”). My question is: what happens when he reaches shore? I’m not sure the islanders will be very thrilled to see that Argentines are disembarking at their beaches now. Would that be considered an invasion? Would shooting him be a viable option? Would this be an excuse for the nuclear sub to fire upon us? This thing has “international incident” written all over it. Whatever, more stuff for me to write about. Although in his defense, he says he intends to use this as an opportunity to unite the islanders with the Argentines. So kudos to him for being a lot more well versed in diplomacy than the local Government.

• In order to perpetuate the cognitive dissonance currently affecting the Argentine political arena, annoying journalist and de facto leader of the opposition Jorge Lanata traveled to Angola last week and cornered Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman during a press conference, asking him how it was possible that the Kirchnerite government, a Human Rights champion, was willing to do business with the Angolan government, greatly denounced for its human rights violations. Timerman, clearly blindsided by the gotcha question was fuming and barely managed to escape the press conference alive. I’m sure that swimmer I was talking about before would have handled the situation ten times better.

• Vice-President Amado Boudou just clearly doesn’t give a shit about anything anymore.

• The exchange rate of the so-called “blue” dollar (as in “black market”) reached new heights this week, even surpassing the Euro’s value. The good news is you don’t need any dollars, you don’t have any dollars and even if you did you don’t even know where the black market is. See? It all works out in the end.

• If you’re wondering why there’s an apparent lack of Cristina-related news this week, it’s because she had to take a two-day leave of absence after catching the flu.

• In totally unrelated news, this happened three weeks ago. Just saying.

• The much-feared “three-day Subte strike” was avoided in the eleventh hour when subway workers and Metrovías S.A. came to an initial agreement, effectively killing my segue and a litany of jokes that I had prepared for what was going to be a fucked up week. Thanks for ruining everything for me, jackasses.

• Remember how last week I was happy because the British had finally acknowledged that I was right and decided to create an anti-Maradona ad to piss off the entire Argentine population? They’ve done it again! And this time they actually mock the “hand of God” episode, just like I said! I guess I have more klout than I thought, which is more than the former football star can say for himself.

• EVERYBODY PANIC!!! In what probably constitutes the worst piece of gastronomic news since the Irish Great Potato Famine, I am very sorry to announce that McDonald’s and Burger King may very soon run out of french fries to sell since the McCain factory in Argentina has shut down indefinitely because of trade restrictions at the Brazilian border. Since 70% of the company’s production is exported to Brazil, over 1,500 tons of frozen fries were ruined after getting green and mossy in the back of some poorly refrigerated warehouse in some forgotten border town after they were not allowed to cross over. So in protest McCain is stopping production, which means no more fries anywhere. Or, even worse, both restaurants will close a deal with Farm Frites, the RC Cola of pre-fried french fries.

• NO, WAIT. NO ONE PANIC. The Government has intervened and vowed to find a proper place to store the fries, at least until the trade irregularities with Brazil are resolved. Phew! Close call! Can you imagine being stuck with the cherry tomatoes?! I’d rather kill myself, thank you very much.

• Hey, here’s a neat idea! Let’s organize a Classic Car Show in some town in Río Negro and then have one of the “classic” (“classic” as in “piece of shit”) vehicles drive around the block to show people standing on the sidewalk that it is, indeed, a car. Then, to fire up the crowd, let’s create an obstacle course in the middle of the street by setting up a few of those orange plastic cones so you can have the vehicles swerve and break in front of the audience with a complete disregard of any sort of safety protocols. I mean, come on! What could possibly go wrong? Oh, yeah. That.

• Move over, Phoenix Jones! There’s a new real-life superhero in town some other part of the world! Former
  

  If you're wondering what this guy is doing here, keep reading. You'll eventually find out. (Photo/Wikipedia)

  treacherous vice-president and current political pariah Julio Cobos, who as you (probably don’t) know served during Cristina’s first term and was ostracized from her Cabinet after he stabbed her in the back, is now seemingly moonlighting as a superhero! You see, Mr. Cobos was casually patrolling the streets of Mendoza this week when he spotted a Toyota Hilux rolling down the street without a driver.  Noticing that it was headed straight to a busy main avenue, where some kid named Little Timmy was probably waiting to be run over by it, Mr. Cobos didn’t hesitate and stood in front of the 1.2 ton behemoth, successfully stopping it with his bare hands and saving the day. Well, in all honesty he was helped by another man who happened to be there but no one gives a shit about him. The whole ordeal was of course picked up by the press, who lauded Cobos as the hero du jour, and was caught on video by a bystander who was absolutely not paid to be there with a video camera. Unfortunately, the camera started rolling after the heroic deed took place, so you’re pretty much stuck with footage of a couple of old geezers greeting Cobos as he exits his car (!?) and the pick up truck laying still in the back. I guess we’ll just have to take his word for it. Stay tuned, next week Mr. Cobos saves Little Timmy after he falls in a well and/or is caught in a fire at the old mill.

• Mark your calendar kids! This week Congress passed a bill creating yet another national holiday, but don’t get so excited because it’s one of the lame ones (meaning it’s just a one time thing). In order to commemorate the 200th. anniversary of some battle of historical significance that you just didn’t click on in order to find out more about it, lawmakers decided that next February 3rd will be a national holiday. Yay, government!

• Also, I was so certain that you wouldn’t click on it that if you do, you get rickrolled. Go on, give it a try! And for you nerds complaining that you didn’t get to read about the actual battle, here is the correct link to the Battle of San Lorenzo.

• I know you didn’t click on that one either. Just saying.

• I feel like I say this almost every month so the joke may be getting old, but City Hall has authorized cab drivers in Capital to raise their fare rates yet again. Come October, you will be paying 91 cents for every 200 meters (you currently pay 73 cents every two blocks). So let’s take a look at the current state of mass transit: taxis are for the rich, trains are deadly, the subways are about to go out of business and your bikes get stolen on a regular basis (I would have also included “cars” on the list, but let’s face it, you don’t own one). Right now buses are your last chance to get somewhere in the city, and who knows how long we have until a single bus ride goes up to $4. Once that happens, I guess it’s time to go back to whatever country you come from.

• EVERYONE PANIC (for real this time)!!! The gates of hell have been opened and the unthinkable has happened. After several football clubs vaguely suggested that they had had enough of the barrabrava (hooligan) savagery, the fanatics reacted in accordance to their  nature and began sending death threats to everyone in their path. And that’s the most peaceful reaction they could come up with! In just one week, they:

• Held Racing Club‘s Giovanni Moreno at gunpoint for over 40 minutes and ordered him to win next Sunday’s game.

• Forced the vice-president of Independiente, Claudio Keblaitis, to take a 3-month leave of absence after they sent him a note warning him that they would shoot him in the head if his club stopped giving them money.

• Intercepted the bus carrying the Instituto team after a defeat and warned them that if they kept losing, all the players would be shot and killed. 

• Threatened the board of the River Plate Club, relegated last year to the National B, by sending them messages that read “Take us back to the First Division or die.”

• Forced the Government to jump in and say that if the violence doesn’t stop, they will have to resort to much more drastic measures, such as suspending all games and tournaments in the country indefinitely.

• Threatened to atta…- Wait. Hold on a second. No football?! AT ALL?! INDEFINITELY?! AND WITH SOME HOPE, FOREVER?!?! OH MY GOD!!

• And finally, my favorite moment of the week: While the leader of Independiente continued to wage his holy crusade against the club’s hooligans and tension kept rising, those mindless neanderthals decided to converge at the entrance of the club to vehemently condemn those who condemn them for being a bunch of sociopaths.  As the protest grew larger and the media showed up, the not-so-aloof head of the hooligans, Mr. Frankenstein (no, seriously) cornered one of the club’s directors against a wall urging him to reconsider their “confrontational” position. No, I’m not kidding! The head of the Independiente hooligans is Frankenstein. Here, see for yourself. Also please look at the face of the club’s representative, who is forced to engage in a serious dialogue with him in front of the cameras.

• And yes, I do know that the correct name for that character is Frankenstein’s Monster, since in the original Mary Shelley story, which I’m sure you didn’t read, “Frankenstein” is not the creature but the name of the doctor who creates the creature. Whatever, man. I’m not responsible for the character symbiosis and I don’t dictate the rules of pop culture. So shut up, even though you probably didn’t say anything.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

And remember to like this column on Facebook!

Send Adrian your comments, thoughts or tips at adrianbono@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @AdrianBono

Agricultural ministers will meet today to draft a full report on the effect of last Wednesday’s storm on the agricultural sector. The storm struck the city of Buenos Aires and surrounding provinces, leaving 17 people dead. 

Minister of Agriculture Norbeto Yauhar and his counterpart in the province of Buenos Aires, Gustavo Arrieta, have held several dialogues in the aftermath of the storm to assess the damage.

“We are working with Arrieta’s team so that the response to the growers affected will be quick, Yauhar said.  “For this we require communal work and a detailed analysis of the situation in each area.”

The coordinator of the Provincial Emergency Services, Luciano Timerman stated that much remains to be done to reverse the damage caused by last week’s storm.

Timerman confirmed, “There are still thousands of households without electricity or water.” He stressed that efforts are underway to reverse the damage caused by the storm.

“We are working 24 hours around the clock with utilities companies to restore power and water supplies,” said Timerman on Radio 10.

The official said that that storm was an “unprecedented phenomenon”. He added that “the south and west were most affected” and that the storm resulted in “10,000 fallen lamp posts”.

Timerman emphasised that the work achieved in the last four days was “thanks to contingency plans … in coordination with the municipalities.”

According to data provided by the National Electric Power, 34,000 households are still without electricity.

The president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Province of Buenos Aires, Horacio González, announced the presentation of a bill to declare economic emergency in the municipalities affected.

The proposal includes a series of tax breaks for families, institutions and businesses affected and created a specific fund that the provincial government has allocated to the districts.

González urged the water and electricity companies to provide “an urgent response to restore these services that are essential to the lives of thousands of people”.