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From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Wed Feb 16 2011 - 14:46:16 EST
- FEBRUARY 16, 2011
U.S., Argentina in Tussle Over Seized Cargo
By KEN PARKS<http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=KEN+PARKS&bylinesearch=true>And
JULIAN
E. BARNES<http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=JULIAN+E.+BARNES&bylinesearch=true>
BUENOS AIRES—A diplomatic row between Argentina and the U.S. escalated on
Tuesday, with Argentina rebuffing Washington's demands to return
communications and other equipment that the South American country
confiscated.
View Full Image
Associated Press
Cristina Kirchner speaking last week to Argentine businessmen.
[image: ARGUS]
b
Argentina accuses the U.S. of trying to sneak in firearms, communications
and surveillance equipment and narcotics in an Air Force cargo plane that
arrived last week for a U.S.-sponsored hostage-rescue course for Argentine
police officers. U.S. officials called those allegations preposterous on
Tuesday and said they were merely bringing in equipment to be used during
the training sessions.
Argentine officials say some of the materials weren't included in documents
submitted by the U.S. Embassy before the plane's arrival, a charge U.S.
officials adamantly deny.
"I want to emphasize the need for our equipment to be returned promptly by
the government of Argentina regardless of what motivated this inexplicable
behavior," Paul Stockton, the assistant secretary of defense for the
Americas, said on Tuesday.
Argentine officials, however, responded the U.S. needed to learn that
Argentina has its own laws that need respect.
"Just imagine what would have happened if an Argentine aircraft had taken
the same kind of material to the United States. [The Argentines] would all
be in Guantanamo in orange overalls," Anibal Fernandez, President Cristina
Kirchner's cabinet chief, said in an interview with local broadcaster Radio
La Red.
The training had been scheduled at the request of the Argentine government,
and was meant to be a follow-up to a September 2009 exercise, according to
Frank Mora, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western
Hemisphere affairs.
"This was all coordinated at the highest levels of the Argentine
government," Mr. Mora said in an interview. "So it caught us very much by
surprise, the way the government reacted."
When the plane arrived on Thursday, it was met at the airport by senior
Argentine officials, including Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, who
supervised the seizure of the cargo as U.S. officials looked on.
Some Argentine officials have said the communications gear was meant to
eavesdrop on telephone officials, but Mr. Mora said the gear is standard for
the training. U.S. officials said the seized narcotics were a small supply
of morphine from a first-aid kit, which was being brought in as a precaution
given that the training involved live-fire drills.
Argentine officials also seized a M4 rifle and several "meals-ready-to-eat,"
the standard military rations, Mr. Mora said.
—Taos Turner contributed to this article.
*Write to * Julian Barnes at julian.barnes@wsj.com and Ken Parks at
ken.parks@dowjones.com
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