U.S. Embassy on corruption in Argentina (The Kirchners)

[rabs]

So here we go again. Couple of months ago Wikileaks revealed that Hil wanted to know about Cristina's "mental status."

Now a leaked cable says the Embassy regarded Nestor Kirchner as corrupt, as well as a bunch of others in the government.

So far, silence and no official government response from Buenos Aires. Guess Hil will be sending someone to Baires to "explain."

--------------------------

Corruption in Argentina widespread and unpunished: WikiLeaks
Michael Warren
Buenos Aires, Argentina— The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, Feb. 09, 2011 2:26PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Feb. 09, 2011 4:32PM EST

Corruption in Argentina is widespread and usually unpunished, the U.S. Embassy reported in a series of secret cables released by WikiLeaks and published Wednesday. One cites a series of very profitable Patagonian real estate deals by the late President Nestor Kirchner — husband of the country's current leader — and other top officials.

The classified cable sent to Washington in May 2009 noted a series of preferential sales of large properties in El Calafate, where an ally of the Kirchners was mayor, and noted that Mr. Kirchner reportedly resold one five-acre plot for $2 million, 40 times what he had paid for it less than two years earlier.

The Embassy said a judicial investigation into the deals involving 50 top government officials was stalled and was then put in the hands of Mr. Kirchner's niece, a prosecutor who herself benefited from one of the properties. Other key government auditing posts were filled by political insiders with conflicts of interest whose investigations have gone nowhere, the embassy added.

------ snip --------
The Argentine government reacted with silence, despite front-page articles about the cables in opposition newspapers. In a personal aside during a speech about the economy, President Cristina Fernandez said Wednesday that she tries not to get annoyed at criticism like her late husband often did.

“That's what he did and look how he ended up,” she said, referring to Mr. Kirchner's death in October of a heart attack. “I won't be a victim. I hate people who say they're being victimized.”

An Embassy official did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press Wednesday for comment on the cables.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/corruption-in-argentina-widespread-and-unpunished-wikileaks/article1900677/?cmpid=rss1

[rabs]

1. Any "idiot can cut and paste" (U.S. Embassy diplomats)

Probably some very red faces at the U.S. Embassy in Baires today. :rofl:


Minister Julio De Vido


Thursday, February 10th 2011 - 06:26 UTC

Argentine minister recommends US diplomacy “to hire more competent employees”

Argentina’s Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido referred to the recently published Wikileaks documents by Spanish newspaper El Pais, and advised the US embassy in Buenos Aires “to hire more competent employees” since performing a “cut-and-paste task from the yellow press is something any idiot can do.”

Mr. De Vido said on Wednesday the alleged information contained in the reports “are from the Urgente 24 website,” and were published on line seven months ago.

The classified documents, sent between 2007 and 2009 and signed by then US ambassador to Argentina, Anthony Wayne, and chargé d’affairs Thomas Kelly, mentioned an alleged “fragile judicial system” and stressed that many criminals “enjoyed impunity” in the country.

http://en.mercopress.com/2011/02/10/argentine-minister-recommends-us-diplomacy-to-hire-more-competent-employees

[Judi Lynn]

9. So rich! I'll bet they don't even cut-and-paste themselves. That's for the flunkies.

Minister de Vido is telling the world what needs to be said.

Hope his message travels all the way to ambassador Anthony, and Thomas J Kelly, Jr! What a couple of pros, by golly.


Once again, the life of the party, Ambassador Anthony, red striped tie. :eyes: . Kelly, sitting on the right. Where else?

[bemildred]

2. Hey, when it comes to corruption, we're the experts. nt

[Judi Lynn]

3. Good for the President. I hope she can resist pressure from the Dirty War-pandering media there.

They have been hammering her since her election. I always felt they believed it would be easier to destroy her, expecting her to be weak and collapse when they went after her.

Hope she gets the last laugh.

Too bad there probably won't be photos from the next meeting between President Fernandez and whomever comes forth to talk to her from the U.S.

I don't know HOW Hillary ever expected her to speak to Hillary again after learning Hillary was trying to fix a case against her for emotional instability. What a dragon.

[Downwinder]

4. I'm waiting for Argentina to leak their cables about corruption in Washington.

[rabs]

5. Argentine official calls US diplomats “a joke”

Found this amusing.

Things are not well with U.S./Argentine relations, especially after the suspicious stuff found in the U.S. Air Force cargo plane over the weekend.

-------------------------

From MercoPress (published Friday 11 Feb):


Aníbal Fernández tells it how it is.

Argentina’s Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández is the latest high-ranking official to address the Wikileaks controversy after Spanish newspaper El País published several cables that denounced various corruption cases within the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration.

"Some US diplomats are a joke. They gather cheap gossip from opposition websites in order to justify their pay-checks,” he said, referring to the staff of the US embassy in Argentina.

“I think the US Department of State, the one with the real problem, has finally come to realize that it has had diplomats around the world who were nothing but a lazy joke, sending articles from anti-government, yellow press websites as if they were the result of some great investigation,” he stated.

Anibal Fernández believes those diplomats “steal cheap information from ill-spirited websites and send them to their government in order to justify their pay-checks, which I’m sure they are pretty fat.”

“There is nothing that proves any action leading to a corruption case” the minister concluded.

Fernández joins Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido in criticism towards the US embassy officials. On Wednesday Vido recommended the embassy to “hire more competent officials”.

[Wilms]

6. That's an OP you have there.

Post the link.

[rabs]

7. It was an article from last week (Friday, 11 Feb.)

Still, here it is.

http://en.mercopress.com/2011/02/11/corruption-controversy-argentine-official-calls-us-diplomats-a-joke

[Judi Lynn]

8. Stupendous! God, I wish there were enough other people blunt enough to state the truth this way.

This official, Aníbal Fernández is truly taking responsibility, getting the truth out there where it can do so good.

What a moment to celebrate. I hope many, MANY people will have heard what he said in no time at all. They will recognize the ring of truth immediately.