Argentina and the U.S.: A Topflight Incident

There are many points of mistrust between Washington and Buenos Aires.

As the days go by, the diplomatic crisis between Buenos Aires and Washington is deteriorating after some of the cargo of an American military plane that arrived last week in the South American capital was seized. Among the materials seized were weapons, medicine and a sophisticated piece of communication and interception equipment, all of which was designated for a group political training course under the terms of cooperative agreements between the two countries.

Argentina alleges that the United States committed a customs violation, having tried to bring undeclared material into the country, and threatened to destroy the seized material. Argentine officials have sent the case to the justice system.

Washington, for its part, expressed its bewilderment for the attitude of the Argentine government, demanded the return of the material and refuses to offer excuses. The United States maintains that the seized material made up part of a routine shipment for these training courses and that the problem could have been resolved without the need to raise it to the executive leadership in Buenos Aires.

The incident has already led to exchanges of diplomatic notes between the two foreign offices, and yesterday, to complete the panorama of the crisis, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, interjected by asserting that Washington’s intention of bringing in that material was to “destroy and destabilize legal and legitimate democratic governments in Latin America.”

Although it has gotten better since the arrival of Barack Obama, the relationship between the two capitals has been riddled with ups and downs. The two most recent points of friction have been the decision of the White House to take a tour of the region that did not include Argentina and the disclosure of a cable from WikiLeaks that reveals U.S. concern over alleged corruption in the Pink House.

The fix doesn’t appear easy. There are several points of mistrust between both capitals that exist not only because of Argentina’s closeness to Latin American governments critical of the United States, but also because of issues that have not been overcome, like the controversy that arose from a briefcase with $800,000 in Buenos Aires that was seized from Venezuelan businessman Guido Antonini Wilson, which, according to a district attorney in Miami, was intended to finance the presidential campaign of the current Argentine president.