Crisitna Kirchner Charged With Obstructing Terror Trial
Argentine president Cristina Kirchner has recently been under fire for ties to the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires. There has been much mystery and drama surrounding the case. However, Kirchner now finds herself formally charged for allegedly covering up one of the country’s worst terrorist attacks.
Per BBC News, the 1994 attack occurred in a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, and resulted in the deaths of 85 people. Kirchner has been charged with shielding Iranian links from prosecution. Iran, however, denies any involvement.
Regarding the allegations, prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita has filed a 62-page document with a federal court stating that Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, and other governmental supporters attempted to remove Iranian officials from Interpol lists in exchange for preferential trade arrangements with Middle Eastern nation.
The previous prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, was the first to bring forth these allegations after a decade of investigation. In that, Nisman was found dead in his apartment a day before he was to present his allegations to Congress, effectively casting more negative light on the Argentine president. The death was initially labeled a suicide, but President Kirchner’s government has fallen under much suspicion.
Mirroring those sentiments, Pollicita commented on the death by saying that high-ranking officials would have most likely orchestrated the death.
“This conspiracy [to obstruct the investigation] would have been orchestrated and set up by high-ranking government officials.”
Kirchner and her government have adamantly denied the allegations, both of the death and the bombing. Timerman, who is also implicated, has stated that the president has always sought to launch a trial regarding the 1994 attack.
“I never, ever received an order from the president, Cristina Kirchner, to sabotage the investigation … On the contrary, she always thought of the AMIA case as a priority in her life. Every time I spoke with her about the AMIA case it was about finding a way to let the trial begin.”
Kirchner’s presidential term will naturally end this December. However, according to the program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Carl Meacham, these new developments could be disastrous for the South American nation, which is already on the verge of economic misfortune.
“You have an economic crisis on the horizon and you marry that with a political crisis, it could be a disaster for Argentina.”
[Featured image courtesy of Rodrigo Abd/AP]
