MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Interpol's 'blue notice' for Argentina's former top-spy; US ambassador summoned to ministry

Stiuso is believed to have left Argentina in February and President Cristina Fernández accused the US of failing to provide the information locate him

Interpol issued a “blue notice” ordering all its agencies around the world to search for and locate former Argentine Intelligence Secretariat (SI) Operations chief Antonio “Jaime” Stiuso so that the Attorney General’s Unit for the Investigation into the attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre (UFI AMIA) could issue a new subpoena to question him about his role in the probe.

 The move marked the latest example of how a legal onslaught has placed the former spymaster in the eye of the storm.

Stiuso is believed to have left Argentina in February and President Cristina Fernández accused the United States of failing to provide the information that could help locate the former intelligence official.

Stiuso’s lawyer, Santiago Blanco Bermúdez, played his cards in Buenos Aires City making legal filings before Federal Judges Julián Ercolini and Norberto Oyarbide and leaking to the press a filing that he carried out on behalf of Stiuso before the Supreme Court on April 22.

The filing reportedly relates to both the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre.

Sources from the country’s highest tribunal confirmed the filing existed but played down its significance, saying that it was not being considered in the investigation into the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, when 22 people were killed.

For its part, the government of Cristina Fernandez doubled its diplomatic efforts to request Washington’s cooperation to find Stiuso.

US ambassador in Buenos Aires, Noah Mamet, had a meeting at the Foreign Ministry headquarters on Thursday noon. Sources explained that the meeting was candid but short as Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman was not there to meet his counterpart. Mamet met Carlos Poffo — a top official from Timerman’s cabinet.

Sources from the US Embassy confirmed the meeting took place but declined to comment. A US State Department spokesperson earlier in the week said that policy is no comments regarding criminal affairs requests, although it will reply to any request through the established judiciary procedure. Besides it does not make comments on the migratory status of a private individual.