Frigate Libertad:
Pagina/12: “Ten days in the claws of the vultures”
Argentine Foreign Ministry (Press Release): “ARGENTINA WILL NOT SURRENDER ITS SOVEREIGNTY TO THE VULTURE FUNDS”
Argentine Defense Ministry (Press Release): “Political mission to Ghana over the Frigate Libertad”
Pagina/12
Ten days in the claws of the vultures
Friday, October 12, 2012
By Raul Dellatorre
The Ghana court yesterday rejected the request from the Argentine government to release the Frigate Libertad, detained for the last ten days in the port of Tema, in that African republic. The detention order on the Argentine teaching vessel was given by the lower court of Ghana, which sided with the attachment filed by the vulture fund NML. Yesterday, that same court dismissed the request for a release of the ship arguing that “there is not sufficient basis given by the plaintiff (the Argentine government) to overturn the court’s decision,” in the words of Judge Richard Adjei Frimpong. The ministers of Defense and Foreign Relations met yesterday urgently in Buenos Aires to address the situation, resolving that the vice ministers from those departments travel immediately to start a joint effort with the highest authorities of the government of Ghana.
In a statement that was released yesterday by the Defense Ministry, it was said that the decision adopted by the Ghanaian court “violates international law which enshrine the immunities that the Frigate enjoys, in its status as a war ship of the Argentine Republic.” This measure, argues the team lead by Arturo Puricelli, “compromises Ghana’s international responsibility” and added it adds “a political dimension to the legal issue which affects bilateral relations.”
Vice ministers Alfredo Forti and Eduardo Zuain (Defense and Foreign Relations, respectively) will try starting today to put an end to the controversy generated by the actions of the vulture funds and the complacency of Ghanaian justice. According to what the official statement warned yesterday, faced with the possibility that the efforts are not fruitful, Argentina assumes the decision “to use all of the available resources, both in the bilateral and diplomatic arenas, towards the recognition of its sovereign rights.”
NML is commanded by U.S. financier Paul Singer, member of a core of lobbyists that operate before the judiciary and Congress of the United States against the country under the name American Task Force Argentina (ATFA). In that same core he is joined by another large speculative fund that is suing Argentina, EM Ltd., led by multimillionaire Kenneth Dark. (sic)
In their campaign against the Argentine government, these groups argue that the country has unpaid debts with “American citizens totaling US$3.5 billion.” What is clear is that the origin and nationality of the capital is unknown, as the two funds which they represent are located in tax havens so that they don’t have to render accounts before U.S. tax authorities. The claimed amount also doesn’t match up with reality, as it corresponds to the pretense put forth in U.S. courts, but is not the original amount of the investment.
A habitual practice of the vulture funds is to acquire bonds once a debtor country has declared default, or when it’s known that the debt is not payable, paying laughable prices for them at “junk bond” price. Then the intention is to earn the difference through a long litigation against the debtor country to recover even part of the nominal value (from 25 to 50 percent) which will always be several times what was invested.
In the case of Argentina, these funds could have already had a great deal by accepting the swap proposed by the Argentine government between 2005 and 2010 but opted to follow the judicial course expecting to get a greater profit, due to the strong recovery of the Argentine economy and its capacity to pay.
The Frigate Libertad is transporting, on its current teaching voyage, a crew of around 300. The director of the port of Tema, Richard Anamoo, told an international news agency that the crew has “freedom to stroll around the environs” of the port, that they’re not obliged to stay on board. Sources in the Argentine navy also reported that the whole crew is in a very good state and are getting correct treatment in Ghana, maintaining regular contact with their families.
In addition to the Argentine sailors, there are also invited uniformed service members from Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and Peru. The Frigate sailed from Buenos Aires on June 2 and stopped at ports in Brazil, Suriname, Guayana, Venezuela, Portugal, Spain, Morocco and Senegal, before arriving in Ghana. The travel plan was to follow its route passing through ports in Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Brazil and Uruguay to arrive once again in Buenos Aires at the beginning of December.
Argentine Foreign Ministry (Press Release)
ARGENTINA WILL NOT SURRENDER ITS SOVEREIGNTY TO THE VULTURE FUNDS
Friday, October 12, 2012
The two centuries of Argentine history are marked by the permanent tension between the full exercise of our sovereignty and, in counterpoint, the goal of domination held by the global powers – political as well as military or economic.
The illegitimate embargo of the Frigate Libertad in Ghana by the vulture fund NML Capital is another chapter in that history. A commercial judge in Accra took the arguments of the vulture funds and concluded that Argentina ceded the entirety of its sovereign immunity in 1994. In regard to this point it is important to clarify that the vulture funds already used this argument in the past, failing in all cases because the Frigate Libertad is a naval vessel to which the regrettable concessions made in the nineties do not apply.
Various courts in various countries have already set precedents on this matter, always ruling in favor of Argentina.
For instance, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, in December 2006, concluded that government ships constituted assets that were specially protected, saying that “a waiver of immunity that extends to assets used for sovereign purposes ought to be examined taking into account whether it includes assets used for sovereign purposes that enjoy a special status due to their purpose. In addition to the objects and assets used for diplomatic purposes, this includes those assets used for consular purposes, but also to government ships and airplanes or equipment of the armed forces.”
In similar fashion, the Appeals Court in France, in September 2011, expressly ruled as immune to attachment “the accounts belonging to the Defense attaché, the Argentine Army, the Air Force.”
Even Judge Thomas Griesa, who issued the New York judgment that they are trying to execute in Ghana, ruled in September 2008 against NML Capital by excluding from the execution of the judgment “all property that may be found, or is understood to be used in connection with, a military activity or which is under the control of a military or defense agency” because they are immune.
The financial speculator Paul Singer, head of the vulture fund NML Capital, prides himself on always winning with his strategy of buying defaulted debt in order to subsequently multiply his investment geometrically. The immorality of his usurious practice has provoked reaction from various global organizations, specifically in response to his execution against African countries, where the vulture funds execute legal rulings obtained in New York and London in order to appropriate for themselves aid funds intended to alleviate Africa poverty.
With their tactic against African countries frustrated, the vulture funds cynically modify their argument and conclude that the speculation against Argentina is valid because Argentina has accumulated sufficient reserves.
Today the battle of our country against the vulture funds is observed by many. Heir to the terrible experience of 2001/2002, Argentina is working actively against the strategy of the vulture funds and other forms of aberrant financial speculation. Against all the predictions and precedents, we arrived at an agreement with 93% of our creditors while at the same time we did not give in to the vulture funds, and we shall not do so because for the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, it is not an accounting question, but a question of sovereignty.
The defense of our sovereignty, the words of Raul Scalabrini Ortiz and Arturo Jauretche, are not mere expressions of the past. The conflict between the powerful interests that finance policies and opinions in order to maintain their contemptible business deals has a contemporary chapter in the dispute between the vulture funds and Argentina.
Argentine Defense Ministry (Press Release)
Political mission to Ghana over the Frigate Libertad
Friday, October 12, 2012
The ministers of Defense and Foreign Relations of the Argentine Republic met to address the situation that is affecting the Frigate ARA Libertad in the Republic of Ghana.
The lower court of Ghana, before which the vulture fund NML has filed an attachment, today rejected the presentation of the Argentine government maintaining the interim measure that detains the Frigate in the port of Tema.
This decision is in violation of international laws which enshrine the immunities that the Frigate enjoys from its status as a war ship of the Argentine Republic. With this measure, which compromises Ghana’s international responsibility, a political dimension which affects bilateral relations is added to the judicial issue.
Without prejudice to the judicial resources that will be immediately put forth, both ministers have decided to dispatch the vice ministers of Defense and Foreign Relations, Alfredo Forti and Eduardo Zuain, to bring forward a joint effort before the highest authorities of the government of Ghana.
The Argentine government trusts that the response from those authorities to this effort will allow a rapid end to be put to the controversy generated by the brash actions of the vulture funds.
Should it not happen, the Argentine Republic reiterates its firm decision to use all available resources, both in the bilateral as well as international arena, toward the recognition of its sovereign rights.
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