POLITICS-ARGENTINA: Justice Moves on Illegal Arms Deal, Menem to Testify

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jun 7 2001 (IPS) - The Argentine scandal involving the illegal arms sales to Croatia and Ecuador led to the arrest of a former army chief Wednesday, while the public anxiously awaits the results of former president Carlos Menem’s testimony before justice authorities, scheduled for Thursday.

Menem assured reporters Wednesday that he would attend the meeting with Jorge Urso, the judge who ordered the arrest – also Wednesday – of retired general Martín Balza, author of a historic “mea culpa” in 1995 for the human rights violations committed by Argentina’s most recent dictatorship (1976-1983).

“I will be present to speak tomorrow (Thursday) with the judge and to tell him my truthà I did not take one step û as governor or as president twice elected û against the Constitution or its laws,” the former president (1989-1999) said in press conference.

“I am absolutely sure, despite the defamations, that I am not guilty of anything and that my freedom is assured, because I believe in justice and in the Argentine people,” he added.

“Everything was legal, there was absolutely nothing against the law. All the appropriate government agencies intervened to ensure that the decrees (that permitted the arms sales) were above-board,” Menem said.

He also expressed his “solidarity with the former ministers” who have been arrested for the arms deals, and with Balza, who for eight years, until December 1999, served as the commander of the Argentine army.

The arrest of the retired general caught human rights activists off guard. The military official has enjoyed widespread public support because of his confessions and criticisms regarding the dictatorship’s repressive practices, and he had even considered launching a political career.

The arms smuggling case was opened in 1995 and 46 people have already been indicted on related charges. The series of legal actions in recent months and Menem’s implication in the case have captured the public’s attention.

“I’m taking it as a spiritual retirement,” Balza said shortly before giving his testimony before Urso, who is investigating the diversion of arms shipments to Croatia and Ecuador through simulated sales to Panama û which has no army û and Venezuela.

The first of the two transactions took place in violation of a United Nations-imposed embargo against the former Yugoslavia, where Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina battled the Serb forces in a war for independence.

The sale of arms to Ecuador also violated international law because Argentina had served as a guarantor of the 1995 peace treaty that ended the Ecuador-Peru border war.

Flanked by his new wife, the Chilean former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco, and by a group of supporters, Menem compared his current situation to the time he was arrested in 1976 by the coup-supporting military, which kept him in prison for five years.

He pointed out that the Paraguayan embassy had then offered him asylum. But “I will not abandon my fatherland,” he asserted, invoking Simón Bolívar, hero of Latin American independence, he said “in chains, but in my country.”

Oscar Roger, one of Menem’s attorneys, confirmed that the former president will provide his testimony to Urso. If the judge orders Menem’s arrest, his legal team will that he be placed under house arrest, as Argentine law allows for people over 70.

Justice authorities, who had planned to take Balza’s statement Jun 13, rescheduled for this Wednesday. But before the interrogation began, Urso told the retired general that he was under arrest for his alleged responsibility for “organising an illicit association” for arms trafficking.

Balza has insisted he is innocent, but prefers to keep mum when asked to name those he believes are responsible for the crimes.

Tuesday, on the eve of his statements before the judge, the former commander said he felt “very foolish.”

Through secret decrees, the Menem administration authorised several shipments of arms to Croatia totalling 6,500 tons. At the time, Argentine troops were participated in peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia and Balza was head of the army.

“While the soldiers and I were proudly serving as the armed branch of foreign policy for the sake of peace, and boasting about our impartiality, my country sold weapons to one of the warring bands,” Balza said.

Balza has repeatedly told the public and the justice authorities that the army had no ties with Fabricaciones Militares, an arms manufacturing entity of the Defence Ministry, that produced the munitions sent to Ecuador and Croatia.

But Luis Sarlenga, former controller of Fabricaciones Militares, assured in his testimony before the judge that Balza was aware of the transactions performed.

Sarlenga was arrested over a month ago. After he gave testimony implicating Menem’s former brother-in-law, Emir Yoma, he paid bail and is at liberty as he awaits trial.

Yoma was detained in May and accused of being another of the organisers of the “illicit association.” He did not hold a government post during the Menem administration but there is extensive evidence indicating he was involved in the creation of a ghost company through which commissions for the illegal arms deals were paid.

Once Yoma was arrested, actions in the case began to accelerate. Antonio Erman González, who held four different ministerial posts under Menem, including Defence Minister, was put behind bars to prevent him from fleeing justice.

On Monday, González broadened the scope of his voluntary testimony. Some observers say his new statement is what led to the rescheduling of Menem’s meeting with judge Urso, originally slated for July 13.

González fingered the Executive branch of the Argentine government – though avoided mentioning Menem by name – as responsible for the decisions taken during his term defence minister.