Washington Protests against Buenos Aires’ Actions

Argentine customs officials have found weapons and drugs on board a U.S. Air Force plane.

A big scandal broke between the U.S. and Argentina. The reason was undeclared weapons, military equipment and a large amount of drugs that Argentine customs had found on board a U.S. Air Force plane that landed at the Buenos Aires Airport. The U.S. State Department explained that they were taking about “standard equipment.” Also, Washington was puzzled because the search of the plane was conducted without “a prior warning from the Argentine authorities,” and demanded the seized cargo back.

The U.S. Air Force transport plane C-17 landed at the Buenos Aires Airport Ezeiza at end of last week. According to the accompanying shipment documents, the plane carried on board a group of American experts scheduled to participate in joint training with the Argentine Federal Police. It was planned that under the U.S. specialists’ guidance, the local police would undertake a course of anti-terrorist fight training and work in areas such as hostage-rescue and actions in other critical situations. That is why the plane was packed full with sensitive equipment.

However, the scale at which the Americans were going to hold the training course really confused the Argentine customs officials who decided to search the U.S. Air Force plane. The plane carried a large number of electronic equipment for seizing signals and decoding advanced GPS-navigators, as well as expired drugs, including a lot of morphine. These cargo items were not mentioned in the shipment documents.

Taking into account that such actions violate a long list of Argentine laws, the local authorities seized the cargo and required explanations. “The United States must understand that they can’t send war materials without informing the government,” said Hector Timerman, Argentine Minister of Foreign Relations. He sent a formal protest to the government demanding that they explain their actions. Buenos Aires officials asked American colleagues to join the investigation.

However, Washington’s reaction turned out to be quite nervous. To begin with, they canceled the training course with the Argentine Federal Police. According to the U.S. State Department’s spokesperson, Philip Crowley, they are “puzzled and disturbed” by the actions of Argentine officials who had conducted an “unusual and unannounced” search of the aircraft. He also said that even if standard equipment was not declared, the problem could have been easily resolved on the spot, with the customs officials and without escalating it to the level of scandal the Argentine government did. At the same time, Mr. Crowley had told them that there was no need to conduct any investigation, and asked for the seized cargo to be returned immediately to the American government.

Experts point out that the scandal will contribute to the cooling of Argentine-American relations. The recent announcement made by the White House about Barack Obama’s first Latin America tour was received painfully in Buenos Aires; Argentina was excluded from the list of countries scheduled for a visit by the American leader in March. According to Timerman, the U.S. has “more interests than friends.”