La Nacion, Argentina

Confronting the World's Leading

Power Won’t Benefit Argentina …

"The anti-U.S. bias that Argentina has historically shown and which is confirmed by the polls, has led the Kirchners [Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, the previous and present Presidents] to dangerously escalate a conflict that has no precedent in our constitutional government."

By U.S. Correspondent Rosendo Fraga

Translated By Barbara Howe

January 13, 2008

Argentina - La Nacion - Home Page (Spanish)

Historian Eric Hobsbawm  recalls that since 1865, the United States has had seven presidents that never finished their terms either due to death or other unforeseen events, and that such circumstances have brought significant changes to the direction of the country. But he also contends that the rails upon which power rests are so stable that no matter who drives the train, there is little risk of derailment.

It is from this premise that the Argentine government should discuss the conflict with the United States, following the trial that has begun in Miami in regard to the suitcase of Antonini Wilson . The effects of this crisis have the potential to wreak substantial changes, no matter who wins the U.S. elections in November.

[Editor's Note: A Venezuelan-American businessman, Antonini Wilson was stopped on Aug. 4, 2007, 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. U.S. prosecutors have made the charge, and Argentine President Kirchner has derided the charges as a search through the 'trash dumps' of international politics].

History shows that the relationship between Argentina and the United States has never been easy, but Presidents Roca, Yrigoyen and Peron avoided direct confrontation with Washington.  Presidents Justo and Frondizi sought closer ties, while maintaining a certain autonomy.  And relations were difficult during the last military government, when Argentina broke the embargo on grain imposed on the Soviet Union for its intervention in Afghanistan, and strained again during the Malvinas War.

[Editor's Note: The Malvinas Islands are called the Falkland Islands by the British. The author refers to the war that broke out between Britain and Argentina over possession of the islands in 1982 ].

With the restoration of democracy, bilateral relations were good, as happened under President Menem and Dela Rua, or slightly less good under Presidents Afonsin and Duhalde.

[President] Kirchner's speech in front of President Bush at the Summit of the America's at de Mar del Plata two years ago WATCH    marked a turning point that President Christina Kirchner has now deepened.

[Editor's Note: Kristina Kirchner, Argentina's first female president, was elected last December, just as her husband Nestor Kirchner left office].
 

* * *

But apart from history, opinion polls are central to understanding the new conflict. The annual Latinobarómetro [Latin barometer] poll which has been carried out for almost two decades, shows that Argentina is the country in the region with the worst image of President George W. Bush: His approval rating stands at only 6 percent. The 2007 Barómetro Iberoamericano [Barometer of IberoAmerican] poll carried out by the Ibero-American Consortium of Investigations into Markets and Consulting, showed that Argentina has the lowest opinion of the United States in the region.

Confronting the leading power in earth might be popular in the short term, but beyond history and public opinion, this reflects a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of the Argentine leadership with respect to the U.S.: It is believed that the country is monolithic. Argentine leaders find it hard to understand that what they think of as the U.S. State Department contains many layers and opinions with regard the Department of Defense, and in turn, the Treasury Department has different priorities. 

In Congress, one can always find a legislator with whom one agrees. Wall Street generally has different priorities from the administration, and the academic community expresses its own reasoning. The press is independent and the positions of The Washington Post and The New York Times express their own differing and conflicting points of view. The division of power is a difficult reality for Argentines to comprehend.

The anti-U.S. bias that Argentina has historically shown and which is confirmed by the polls, has led the Kirchner-couple to dangerously escalate a conflict that has no precedent in our constitutional government. The declaration of repudiation of that country by the [Argentine] Congress has perhaps created the sharpest edge of the conflict, as it is now an institutional position.

Remember that crises tend to escalate due to miscalculations which  lead to unwanted situations. This should be the central focus of discussions by the Argentine government. 

The author is the director of the Center of Studies for the New Majority.

Click Here for Spanish Version