MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay wants to end spat with Argentina over missing persons.

The Uruguayan government wants to put an end to its “war of communiques” with Argentina - sparked by Argentina's demand for information on a long-missing citizen and the Uruguayan president's retort - an Uruguayan official said Monday.

Tuesday of last week, Argentine President Nestor Kirchner's administration filed suit in an Argentine court demanding an investigation into the disappearance of poet Juan Gelman's daughter-in-law in Montevideo in 1976 while in the custody of the military regime in power there at the time. Maria Claudia Garcia de Gelman was seven months pregnant.

In its complaint, the government asked Judge Claudo Bonadio to subpoena Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle to testify regarding what he knows of the case.

Batlle, who created a flap in 2002 when he called Argentines "a pack of thieves," responded to Argentina's request by demanding Buenos Aires in turn provide more information on the scores of Uruguayans who "disappeared" at the hands of the 1976-83 Argentine military regime.

At a press conference on Saturday, Kirchner said Batlle needed to correct his "intemperate remarks." In addition, in an radio interview on Monday, Argentine Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez said Batlle evinces attitudes and speaks in language "very unflattering to the people of Argentina," making him "a champion at mistreating Argentines." After meeting with Batlle, Deputy Foreign Minister Guillermo Valles, and presidential Chief of Staff Raul Lago for two hours, Foreign Minister Didier Opertti said his government "is in no hurry" to reply to the statements issued by Kirchner's team.

"We are firm and unequivocal in our intent to provide public opinion with essential, prudent, clear and concise information that takes the issue beyond a war of communiqués," Opertti said.

The Peace Commission Batlle appointed in 2000 to investigate disappearances at the hands of Uruguay's 1973-1985 military regime concluded Maria Claudia Garcia Gelman was murdered, but failed to established the fate of her remains.