POLITICS-ARGENTINA: Arms Scandal – a Tough Ghost to Lay to Rest

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 27 1998 (IPS) - The scandal of Argentine arms sales to Croatia and Ecuador whilst under international bans is proving hard to shake off for the Carlos Menem administration, despite both the defence minister and air force chief getting the chop.

For the deals which allegedly took place between 1991 and 1995, bobbed up again in Parliament Thursday when army chief, General Martin Balza claimed before the Chamber of Deputies his force “had not offered any type of weaponry for sale.”

Suspicions of just such action were awoken by the discovery of a ‘new for used’ arms exchange from 1993, which could prove to have been the first step toward the misdemeanour.

Balza’s intention was to distance himself from the scandal caused by the army selling weapons in violation of the United Nations arms embargo on the former Yugoslavia and Ecuador – then at war with Peru.

The General met with 400 army chiefs and officers to discuss the matter Monday, appearing voluntarily in Congress Thursday to present his side of the case. He could be presented with a summons within the next few days regardless of his efforts.

News of the illegals sales broke in 1995, when Ecuador and Peru were at war over a frontier dispute dating back to 1941 – where Argentina is one of the guarantor nations of the main peace agreement.

According to official registers, a consignment of arms left Argentina for Venezuela but never got there, being diverted to the Ecuadoran city of Guayaquil.

The shipment was authorised by Menem and his defence, economy and foreign ministers. The cargo included 75 tons of light arms and ammunition, which arrived at Guayaquil at a time when the Americas had placed a total ban on selling arms to Ecuador and Peru to avoid compounding the situation.

Shortly afterwards, a confidential report from Argentine customs confirmed a press report stating 6,500 tons of weapons – heavy cannon, rifles, missiles, mines, grenades and ammunition – supposedly bought by Panama, had ended up in Croatia, then at war for independence from Yugoslavia.

The government initially tried to claim their action had been legally correct. But once it was clear where the consignments had gone to, Argentine officials changed their tune, accusing intermediary companies of treacherous behaviour.

Menem had not option but to accept the resignation of then defence minister Oscar Camilio who, according to former brigadier Juan Paulik, had been warned of the risk of this triangle effect.

Camilion was tried by the federal courts, and the same happened to Paulik, head of the air force when the dodgy operation came to light.

At the same time, the government sacked the supervisor of Military Productions, a dependency of the Defence Ministry which supplied the arms for the consignments and signed the 1993 ‘new for old’ agreement with the army.

Other officials were also made to resign and are now being investigated, and the courts are preparing to rule on whether to extend the action to include Employment Minister Antonio Erman Gonzalez, defence minister before Camilion.

The whole investigation process hit the headlines again this week following the suicide of retired captain Horacio Estrada Tuesday.

Estrada had testified in court Friday after two witnesses identified him as the person who inspected the departure of the two arms consignments.

He was known in military circles for mediating in legal arms purchases and sales, and while the autopsy said he committed suicide by shooting himself in the temple, the courts suspect he could have been murdered or coerced into suicide.

Also Tuesday, another retired army officer and mediator in the suspect arms sales, Diego Palleros, closely linked to Estrada, was freed in South Africa where Interpol picked him up a month ago.

Palleros had alleged “high officials” in Argentina were involved in the smuggling, but the South African courts rejected Argentina’s extradition request freeing him instead.

Now the foreign ministry and courts are looking into the possibility of letting Palleros’s take the witness stand from Johannesburg.