President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner swore in Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman yesterday whose critics claim is trying to pressure a former ambassador in an attempt to cover up alleged bribes to government officials for contracts with Venezuela.A former ambassador to the US and a former journalist, Timerman reaffirmed that the reported “parallel embassy” in Caracas which allegedly demanded bribes from Argentine businessmen willing to do business in Venezuela “only exists in the mind of some journalists.”
Timerman yesterday formally replaced Jorge Taiana, who quit on Friday after Fernández de Kirchner reportedly accused him of disloyalty, based on the fact that, unlike what happens to many government officials, the media treat him “well.” Timerman yesterday said that he did not object to former ambassador to Caracas Eduardo Sadous testifying before a Lower House committee today as a witness."It's good for him to appear before Congress with all the guarantees that citizens should enjoy, but also with all the responsibility he has in his role as a foreign relations official. I don't see any problem with his attending. The ones who do have a problem are Patricia Bullrich (Civic Coalition-Buenos Aires City) and other deputies who want to turn this into a political pigsty," he said.
Asked whether his statements might be interpreted as putting pressure on Sadous, he replied in Government House: "You reporters must respect off-the-record statements. Would you consider yourself as being under pressure if you were asked to reveal your sources?"
Bullrich told the Herald that Timerman was using professional secrecy as a weapon to threaten Sadous. "They're resorting to secrecy to cover up murky links with Venezuela."
Deputy Elisa Carrió (Buenos Aires City), the leader of the Civic Coalition, said: "If the foreign minister is implying that officials denouncing crimes are breaking the law, he should know that officials are oblige to report crimes by law." She added: "It was we who denounced the deals with Venezuela and Sadous was summoned to testify in court as a witness."
Last April Sadous told a judge that when he was ambassador to Caracas between 2002 and 2005, businessmen complained that the Argentine Planning Ministry forced them to pay bribes in the form of a 15 percent commission to a Miami-based import-export company. The money allegedly flowed to both Venezuelan and Argentine officials - an accusation both governments deny. He added that he shared the businessmen's complaints with his superiors in classified communications - with no apparent response.
Taiana and the President's predecessor and husband, Néstor Kirchner, a deputy for Buenos Aires province who chairs the Peronist party attended the swearing-in ceremony. Kirchner said Timerman will be "a good foreign minister in the same way that we have had, until now, a good foreign minister."
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández denied Taiana could be moving away politically from the Kirchners after his traumatic resignation. "This is part of the soap opera that those who have nothing to publish love so much. Perhaps he thought that his cycle was over."
Most officials who had been working with Taiana will continue in their posts, reports said. Ambassador Alberto D'Alotto was appointed by Timerman as his deputy foreign minister, Guillermo Oliveri was confirmed as religious affairs secretary, Eduardo Sigal as economic integration under-secretary, Gabriel Fuks as head of the White Helmets and Alfredo Chiaradía as international economic affairs secretary. State-run news agency Télam's head Martín Granovsky was reportedly under consideration to replace Timerman as ambassador to the United States.
Timerman said that he trusted that a trade conflict that led China to cease buying Argentine soy-oil will be solved through dialogue when the President travels to Beijing. Referring to trade differences with Brazil, he said: "Brazil is our brother and partner in the Mercosur trade bloc and I see no problem."
Timerman added that Argentina will continue to press Iran so that it hands over Iranian citizens accused by Argentine courts of having participated in the 1994 terrorist attack that razed the AMIA Jewish community building in Buenos Aires.
Asked whether the links Brazil has with Iran could be an obstacle to solving trade issues, he said that that was something for Brazil to decide. "We don't tell any country what to do and we don't allow anyone to interfere in our policies."
In a sharp contrast with Taiana, Timerman is a harsh critic of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who is an ally of the Kirchners and of Iran. But the incoming minister said that the close links between Venezuela and Iran were not harming relations between Argentina and Venezuela or Argentina's "friendship" with Israel.
Observer Rosendo Fraga told the Herald that Taiana's green light for Sadous to testify in Congress "seems to have been a relevant factor in prompting him to quit" and that his resignation "confirms that after every reshuffle, instead of opening up to new alliances and sectors, the Kirchners are concentrating on themselves."
Timerman was departing yesterday for a meeting of the UN decolonization committee where he will press Argentina's sovereignty claim on the Malvinas islands.
One of his other priorities will be the relationship with Uruguay which has been harmed by an Uruguayan pulp mill that Argentina claims is polluting its environment. The two countries will work on the joint environmental control of the Uruguay River.
With news agencies:
MALVINAS: NO TO DRILLING, SAYS LOWER HOUSE. Three Lower House committees yesterday cleared for debate on the floor a bill to ban oil exploration or drilling in the Malvinas Islands area without authorization from the Argentine state.
The bill was drafted by leftist Deputy Fernando "Pino" Solanas (Proyecto Sur-Federal Capital) and ideas from other lawmakers were later included to reach a consensus and have it passed unanimously.
There has been growing tension between Argentina and Britain after London authorized British companies to start offshore drilling for oil around Malvinas.
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman will appear today before the UN Decolonization Committee and will ask the UN to "force" Britain to start negotiations with Argentina on sovereignty over the islands, something London has systematically refused to do since the war of 1982.
Meanwhile, Argentine Ambassador to the UN Jorge Argüello yesterday said that Argentine sovereignty over Malvinas "is only a matter of time. We have to create the conditions to force Britain to do what the UN is saying, that there should be negotiations."
Deputy Margarita Stolbizer (GEN-Buenos Aires) also yesterday told reporters that the bill cleared for debate on the floor by the three Lower House committees represents "a step forward to reach consensus and adopt joint actions and state policies with the goal of strengthening Argentina in the international arena."
By Guillermo Háskel / Buenos Aires Herald
Source: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/37155
