MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Washington asks Argentina for help with Venezuela

The top US diplomat for Latin America signaled a thaw in relations with Argentina during his brief 48 hours visit to Buenos Aires where he met with President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and main officials from her administration. Before returning to Washington he described relations as “excellent”.

US relations with Argentina have been tense since US prosecutors from Miami last December implicated the president's election campaign in a corruption scandal which also supposedly involved Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and top, close officials from both countries. US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Thomas Shannon also underlined the importance for Washington of the bilateral relation anticipating closer cooperation in several fields. Buenos Aires press reports indicate that Shannon also extended an invitation from President George Bush. "Argentina has always been an anchor of stability and democracy in this region and we know that to have good relations with Latin America, we need to have good relations with Argentina" said Shannon. Shannon apparently also expressed the Bush administration concern with political stability in the region and underlined the role Argentina could play in such a scenario. Washington is also interested in links with the government of President Chavez in Venezuela and believes Argentina is in a privileged position. "We talked about our interest in improving relations between Venezuela and United States, which is our current purpose. We underlined that with the help from a friendly government such as Argentina, we can improve those relations", said Shannon in a press conference. Shannon urged Argentina urged Argentina to repay some 6 billion US dollars in defaulted loans owed to the so-called Paris Club of 19 creditor nations after the 2002 economic meltdown. "We're interested that Argentina and the Paris Club reach an agreement that opens money markets to Argentina. There's no need for Argentina to ask us, it's in our interest that an agreement is achieved", said Shannon. Mrs. Kirchner took office on December 10, only days after US prosecutors said a suitcase filled with nearly 800.000 US dollars intercepted in Argentina was brought from Venezuela as a campaign contribution intended for her campaign. Cristina Fernandez blasted the accusations as slanderous and accused the US of "garbage operations" against her government. At the time, Shannon called Fernandez's words "regrettable and not positive". However Argentina still has some pending issues with private creditors which were underlined hours before Mr Shannon flew to Buenos Aires by the American Task Force Argentina, AFTA. Co-chaired by Dr. Robert Shapiro and Ambassador Nancy Soderberg AFTA sent a letter to Shannon requesting he discuss with Argentine authorities the global impact of "Argentina's repudiated debt to US bondholders, Argentina's close ties with Hugo Chavez, and the threat this relationship poses to US security". "Argentina must understand that its relationship with Hugo Chavez comes at a cost to its relationships with responsible international actors. As a non-NATO ally, Argentina has access to grants of surplus US military hardware," write Shapiro and Soderberg. "In addition, irresponsible efforts to detract public attention from the underlying domestic problems, such as President Fernandez statements reclaiming the Falkland Islands, will only serve to weaken Argentina's international standing." The letter concludes with the following: "Given Argentina's increasingly irresponsible international behaviour, we urge you to conduct a thorough review of bilateral security programs between the US and Argentina to evaluate whether they are appropriate in light of Argentina's behaviour."