Relations between Argentina and the United States are ‘excellent’ said ultra ‘Kirchnerite’ lawmaker Carlos Kunkel who discarded as ‘interested parties’ versions indicating certain ‘discomfort’ in President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner administration with the coming visit of President Barack Obama to El Salvador, Chile and Brazil.
A new delicate situation has emerged for Argentina’s Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman after a judge decided to file the case involving the seizing of allegedly “sensitive material” from a US Air Force aircraft that landed in Buenos Aires main airport last month.
While offering a press conference in Washington DC, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley refused to comment on the recently released Wikileaks cables that mention Argentina and said his government would refrain from doing so in the future.
Unite States officials said they would continue to claim the US Air Force aircraft cargo seized in Argentina and rejected point blank pressures on embassy officials from Argentina’s Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman to abstain from comments on the issue with the Argentine press.
After the US Department of State official Philip Crowley tweeted that his country “wanted his (seized) stuff back,” the Argentine Foreign Ministry issued Wednesday a press statement in which it assured that it still awaits “a satisfactory response” to the formal complaint sent to the US embassy.
Repsol-YPF planned exploration for hydrocarbons in the Malvinas basin, off Tierra del Fuego has suffered a major public relations setback following on the Buenos Aires press revelation that the two vessels contracted for the job not only are UK flagged but also have links with the current oil exploration round in Falkland Islands’ waters.
The US State Department released a press statement detailing the content of the cargo seized by Argentine authorities in the US Air Force plane case, and said that despite a “discrepancy regarding the serial number of one of the weapons, the quantity and type of weapon was consistent with the official manifest” provided to Argentine officials.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley assured that the US government “has no reason to apologize” to Argentina in the case of the “sensitive materials” that were seized in a US Air Force plane by the local government last week, amid accusations of “attempting to smuggle surveillance and communications equipment.”
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.
Argentina presented a formal protest to the United States embassy in Buenos Aires over the incident of a US Air Force plan that landed in the country last Thursday with alleged undeclared military equipment.