Argentine President Kirchner charged the U.S.

with interference, after an FBI report suggested

that the government of Venezuelan tried to fund

her recent successful election campaign.

Diario De Cuyo, Argentina

President Cristina Kirchner

Has Harsh Message for U.S.

"This President may be a woman, but she won’t let anyone pressure her … this method of conducting regional policy will bring no results in Argentina."

-- President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

TELAM [Argentina's official news agency, Agencia de noticias oficial de la República Argentina]

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

December 13, 2007

Argentina - Diario Decuyo - Original Article (Spanish)

“There are trash dumps of international politics that suggest a setback for global relations.” With these words, the [Argentine] President referred to a report from the FBI indicating that money carried by Venezuelan businessman Antonini Wilson was intended for a her election campaign - and she defined this as “Operation Trash.” She added: “Rather than merely friendly countries, they [the United States] want subordinates.”

[Editor's Note: A Venezuelan-American businessman, Antonini Wilson was stopped on Aug. 4 at a Buenos Aires airport with $790,550 of undeclared cash. He is at the center of an international dispute over whether he carried Venezuelan money destined for President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's election campaign ].

Buenos Aires: The nation's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, said Thursday that she will “continue a relationship of friendship with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," as well as all other countries in the region, and that she will now “allow anyone to pressure her.”

“I will continue affirming our relationships and friendships with all Latin American countries, including the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” she said, referring to the report released in the United States, claiming that a suitcase with almost $800 000 that Venezuelan businessman Guido Antonini Wilson tried to smuggle into the country was intended for a candidate [Mrs. Kirchner] in the recent Argentine presidential election.

Speaking at a ceremony for a program for landfill eradication, cleaning and closure in Cuenca Matanza-Riachuelo, Cristina added: “This President may be a woman, but she won’t let anyone pressure her,” and she noted that, “this method of conducting regional policy will bring no results in Argentina."

The President alluded to “the trash dumps of international politics” that suggest a “tragicomic devolution of the seriousness and development of relations” between nations, referring to the U.S. report that suggested that the suitcase of money that Venezuelan Guido Antonini Wilson tried to enter the country with was destined for the campaign of a candidates [Mrs. Kirchner].

“Rather than merely friendly countries, they [the United States] want employees and subordinates,” said the President, speaking in the context of the launch of the eradication program.

The plan is aimed at closing 26 landfills located in the towns of La Matanza, Almirante Brown, Esteban Echeverría y Avellaneda, which surround the Buenos Aires watershed, and which will require an investment of 62 million pesos [$19.7 million].

Click for Spanish Version