Menem grounded for conspiracy

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Herald Sun (Australia)

Menem grounded for conspiracy
September 10, 2007 12:00am
FORMER Argentinian president Carlos Menem has been indicted for a second time for trying to smuggle arms.

A federal judge charged Menem - president from 1989 to 1999 - with conspiring to smuggle arms to Croatia and Ecuador during the 1990s, the La Nacion and Clarin newspapers said.

The ex-leader was held for nearly five months under house arrest in 2001.

Menem, now a senator, was not expected to be arrested because of the judicial immunity he enjoys as a lawmaker but the judge prohibited him from travelling outside the country.

The case is among several corruption probes that have dogged Menem and several of his former aides for years.



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22389107-5012753,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Menem charged with weapons sales

Menem charged with weapons sales
By Daniel Schweimler
BBC News, Buenos Aires

Argentina's former President Carlos Menem has been charged with involvement in the illegal sale of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador during the 1990s.
His passport has been withdrawn and assets worth $120m (£60m) frozen to pay for any fine resulting from the case.

Mr Menem faced similar charges six years ago, but was allowed to walk free by a panel of judges mostly appointed during his 1989-1999 presidency.

The former president, 77, has denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Menem is accused of involvement in selling 6,500 tonnes of rifles, cannons, anti-tank rockets and ammunition to Ecuador and Croatia between 1991 and 1995.

At the time Ecuador was involved in a conflict with neighbouring Peru, while Croatia was a key player in the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6985487.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This once-impeached friend of the _Bush family is the President who issued a blanket pardon to the military coup officers who were responsible for the torture and murder of "dissidents" in Argentina.

This pardon has been reversed in the recent past, allowing these criminals to be brought to trial, and imprisoned.

He plunged Argentina into a hideous economic wreck, and privatized Argentina's water. You may remember reading that some people were getting THICK brown water from their faucets, and paying a horrendous price for it, at that.

[Festivito]

2. I wish I could get a confident grab on this.

I was in Argentina when Menem was elected. Thought he was a mindless shill, well maybe he was. BUT, he didn't print money just to give it to himself and his friends and Argentina prospered instead of going into its usual hyper inflation.

Bad news for me, a tourist with dollars.

All he wanted was to be adored. He played soccer and put Maradona on HIS OWN team. He seemed by actions an honest show-off, playboy.

Big deal.

When Bush called, he was flattered, and wanted to be a buddy to high profile powerful A-MARE-RICAN. BFEE wanted water piping rights and offered the self-aggrandizing playboy prestigious CONNECTION TO AMERICA.

Whoo-pee.

For all Menem would have cared his connection could have been with anyone American, but a past president's family, for a little guy in a little country, WOW!

AND why is it when Argentinian playboy ships guns to some far off country it is called conspiracy and smuggling, and when OUR past president's company does it, it is called arm sales?

Especially when you consider Menem to be a guy who made enemies of the very rich and powerful from the time when he started.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Culture of Impunity : Waiting for justice in Argentina

Culture of Impunity : Waiting for justice in Argentina
By David SaxPublished: FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2003

BUENOS AIRES: Every Monday morning, a group gathers outside Argentina's federal courts in Buenos Aires. Their numbers shrink each year, their hair has grayed, their children have likely moved abroad. Yet the group, Memoria Activa, says it will not stop until those responsible for the July 18, 1994 terrorist attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, a Jewish community center, are punished. Nine years since a car bomb took 85 lives and shattered hundreds more, justice remains a distant hope.

Justice delayed and denied is a recurrent theme in Argentina's history. After World War II, the country admitted Nazi war criminals, offering safe haven in exchange for money. Of these, only Adolf Eichmann was brought to justice after being kidnapped by the Mossad and brought to Israel.

When Argentina was plunged under military rule, twisted justice was dealt by disappearance, torture and summary execution. Even after that traumatic period in the nation's history, impunity remained the legal norm. While imprisoning the junta's few leaders in 1983, President Raul Alfonsin pardoned lower ranking officers and soldiers; the torturers and murderers whose hands broke flesh. His successor, Carlos Menem, then pardoned the old dictators and led the nation into an era of crime and corruption unparalleled in Argentine history. It has been left for Spain to seek the extradition of the worst of the offenders under the dictatorship.

Like a black cloud, the bombing of the Jewish center shadow hangs over this legacy. The investigation has been ruled by incompetence, languishing in the courts for nine years. Reporters at the scene of the bombing tell stories of police pillaging cookies from a destroyed bakery truck, tossing possible evidence aside in the process. Lawyers recall how authorities cleared apartments in the area of residents, then stole from them.

Those few standing trial for the bombing are members of the provincial police force of Buenos Aires, a key arm of the justice system who appear to have been involved in the planning of the attack in conjunction with the radical Hezbollah movement based in Lebanon and Iranian operatives. For years, they managed to conceal evidence, obscure facts and lie to investigating judges. Evidence shows that SIDE, the state intelligence agency, and the Menem government aided in the cover-up, worried more about the incriminating skeletons any investigation would uncover than about truth and justice.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2003/07/18/edsax_ed3_.php

[Judi Lynn]

4. Former Argentine president Menem barred from leaving country in arms probe, reports say

Former Argentine president Menem barred from leaving country in arms probe, reports say
The Associated Press
Published: September 9, 2007

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: A judge has barred former President Carlos Menem from leaving Argentina during an investigation into illicit arms sales to Ecuador and Croatia in the 1990s, local media reported.

Federal Judge Rafael Caputo also ordered that US$112 million (€82 million) of Menem's assets be frozen as he investigates the allegations of illegal weapons deals during Menem's presidency, the Web sites of leading Argentine dailies La Nacion and El Clarin reported late Saturday.
(snip)

Menem was detained for six months in 2001 during an earlier probe into an alleged conspiracy to sell artillery, anti-tank missiles, mortars and rifles to Ecuador and Croatia in violation of U.N. embargoes.

The former president, who has denied any wrongdoing, was freed that year by a Supreme Court panel he had largely appointed during his time in office. Caputo revived the earlier investigation.
(snip)

Menem, whose two terms were marked by corruption scandals and growing government indebtedness that preceded a 2001-2002 economic crisis, lost a 2003 re-election bid to current President Nestor Kirchner.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/09/america/LA-GEN-Argentina-Arms-Scandal.php