30-11-2008



Argentina: Carlos Menem charged with arms trafficking

Carlos Menem, who served as President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999 has been charged with the illegal selling of arms to countries at war. The weapons were allegedly sold to Croatia and Peru between 1991 to 1995. Croatia at the time was in the midst of conflict with Serbia in the context of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia while Ecuador was battling its neighbour Peru. Both countries were under a UN arms embargo at the time making it a crime to sell them weaponry. Menem denies the charges and argues that the shipments were in fact destined for Panama and Venezuela.

Menem has already faced such charges and spent time under house arrest in 2001 for several months before being freed by a panel of judges, most appointed by him.  President Nestor Kirchner who served between 2003 and 2007 replaced all the judges involved in pardoning Menem and re-opened the trail which is being now being followed up under the presidency of his wife Cristina Fernandez. The Fernandez and Kirchner are bitter rivals of Menem and some are suggesting that the charges are in fact politically motivated.

Kirchner and Fernandez are associated with left-wing politics of the ‘Justicialist’ party as was Menem and all got their start in the Peronist movement. The couple and others are of the opinion that Menem wass corrupt and has damaged their party’s reputation. Cristina Fernandez who is undoubtedly glamorous and highly attractive is often compared to Eva Peron known affectionately as ‘Evita', the Iconic and almost deified wife of President Juan Domingo Peron who died of cancer at age 33 in 1952.  Evita is still regarded by Argentinians as ‘The Spiritual Leader of the Nation of Argentina’.