MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Justice takes on the incident of the US Air Force plane cargo

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Frank Mora described the situation as “very serious”

Argentine Judge Ezequiel Berón de Astrada requested on Tuesday Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman; Security Minister Nilda Garré; and the US Embassy “all the information they have” on the incident regarding the US Air Force plane seized in Ezeiza international airport.

Judicial sources reported that the judge also demanded the details of the bilateral US/Argentina security cooperation agreement, after the notification that stated that the weapons and other material found in the plane where destined to be used on the course to train Federal Police Special Operations Squad (GEOF).

The head of Customs, María Tirabassi; the Deputy Director of the Metropolitan Customs Operations, Daniel Santana; and Deputy Director of the AFIP revenue office, Pedro Roveda, have already been summoned by the judge.

During the encounter, the officials told the judicial investigators that they did not send the report of the episode to court because they did not consider “there was a customs violation or an illegal action.”

They also assured the judge that the material seized remains at a closed container until the technicians analyze them. The officials also reported that among the material found there were weapons, communication equipments and technological elements.

Meantime in Washington US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Western Hemisphere Affairs Frank Mora said the US Air Force plane incident is “serious,” adding that they have “never experienced a similar situation with another country”.

Mr. Mora, explained that his government “is still surprised” by the local government’s attitude in the matter, arguing that this is not the first time that both countries engage in bilateral police training.

The Pentagon official denounced that the military officials on the plane were treated in a way “that is not supposed to happen between two allied countries,” and rejected Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman’s statements saying there was illegal wiretapping equipment in the plane.”

Mora closed by assuring that the plane’s cargo “had been approved before its arrival,” and said that “even though it is a serious incident, it can easily be resolved.”

“The ties between the US and Argentina are very strong, and we can solve this matter by bringing back dialogue and looking for other collaboration methods,” he stated.

The diplomatic rift between the countries has tensed things up as officials from both countries have been exchanging contradictory explanations for the incident.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner made an elliptical reference to the incident during the inauguration ceremony of a park named after her late husband, and former president, Néstor Carlos Kirchner.

“All decisions that Argentina’s president makes are made“ at Government House, ”meaning that nobody dictates what the president must say or do”, said Mrs Kirchner. Further on she stated that “this government is changing history. Before we arrived this was a country in which people was always thinking that governmental decisions were taken on request. We had no power of decision and there were external factors, like the IMF, which would tell us what to do”.