Clarin
Foreign Ministry knew the risks, but no one did anything to change the route
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
By Nicolás Wiñazki
The Foreign Ministry, at the hand of Hector Timerman, knew that the Frigate Libertad could be affected by judicial complaints in its current ocean voyage with stops in different international ports. Even so it accepted the ship’s itinerary, according to Note 59/2012 that was signed by Ambassador Eduardo Zuain, secretary of Foreign Relations of the Foreign Ministry. That document was sent to the secretary of International Affairs of the Defense Ministry, Alfredo Forti, who at that time took it to the now-ex chief of the Navy, Carlos Alberto Paz. Those bureaucratic communications came about in the last week of May.
Zuain’s note, which Clarin obtained, says that while the “Frigate Libertad attends the immunities expected of public assets of the state”, the national government could not “guarantee that its teaching voyage won’t be subject to possible demands, precautionary measures or execution during its stay in foreign ports.”
Ambassador Zuain specified to Forti that the biggest legal risks could be run “in European ports (Spain, Portugal)”, now that “attachments could be interposed on the part of the authorities of the Member States of the European Union where there are legal processes against the Republic (as is the cast in Germany, Belgium, Italy and France) (…)”
The secretary of Foreign Relations wrote in the note 59/2012 that “regarding the rest of the countries on the trip, there is no knowledge that there exist legal complaints against Argentina that would allow for supposing that they could ask for precautionary or executory measures against the Frigate Libertad.”
The diplomat warned Defense that “it should be borne in mind the intense activity of the ‘hold outs’ (vulture funds) that are attempting legal actions and attachments against assets of the Argentine Republic in various countries on the basis of warrants (foreign debt bonds) in which our country has renounced immunity of jurisdiction and execution.”
Zuain even remarked that the Frigate Libertad has a “symbolic value” that “would assure ample media repercussions from any supposed preliminary measure that, according to its nature, provides an “unprecedented party.””
Despite those observations, the secretary for Foreign Relations didn’t object in a direct manner to the trip by the teaching vessel that is now detained in the port of Tema, in Ghana, due to a judicial measure pushed by NML, a vulture fund that is demanding payment on bonds by Argentina.
Zuain’s note to the Navy had been in response to the letter 181/12 from that service branch, referring to a guarantee for “the possibility that the Frigate visit Nigeria during its instructional voyage.”
The newspaper Página/12 on Sunday published an article in which it reproduced a note from the Navy that communicated to the Defense Ministry that stop by the Frigate Libertad in Nigeria was being modified in favor of a new stop in the port of Ghana. That document was dated May 14. Nine days later, the Foreign Ministry, through Zuain, gave its opinion about the ship’s itinerary.
Clarín phoned the Foreign Ministry to know its version of events, but did not obtain a response.
Zuain’s note was received by the secretary for International Affairs at Defense – Forti – who sent it on May 28, without any additions of his own, to then-chief of state Major General of the Navy, Admiral Carlos Alberto Paz, who was fired yesterday, in the midst of a clash of internal accusations from public agencies that have responsibility in this case.
The Frigate Libertad left Buenos Aires on June 2 to hold its classic teaching voyage for sailors through different oceans of the world. Fourteen days ago the Ghana judiciary prohibited it from leaving the port of Tema to continue on its way.
* (Note- in the article below, Verbitsky uses the term “Peornism” in place of “Peronismo Opositor” as the label for Mariano Mera Figueroa, which the ultra-K’s use as a slur against dissident Peronist. “peor” means “worse”.)
Pagina/12
The proposal of the vultures
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
By Horacio Verbitsky
The vulture fund NML Capital Ltd. offered a negotiation to the Argentine govenrment to release the Frigate Libertad, detained in Ghana. The intermediary was the leader of Opposition Peronism* Mariano Mera Figueroa, who commnicated through the Secretary General of the Presidency, Oscar Parrilli. President CFK ordered there be no response to the proposal, which included the granting of a credit of US$2 billion to YPF, if Argentina commingled the warrants in NML’s possession for double that sum. Mera Figueroa belongs to a banner family of the oligarchy of Salta. He is a cousin of the governor of Salta, Juan Manuel Urtubey, and of the vice governor of Catamarca, Dalmacio Mera. His father was minister of Interior during the government of Carlos Menem, when Argentina contracted the debts that the vulture funds are now demanding, those who did not accept the swap-with-discount proposals that the Argentine government made in 2005. The sone supported Menem’s candidacy in the presidential elections of April 2003 and during the electoral campaign proposed deploying military troops to combat crime. In October of that year, he ran as a candidate for the mayorship of the CABA (the city of Buenos Aires) on the MODIN ballot, founded by Aldo Rico, but only got 1775 votes, or 0.1% of those cast. He had better luck in his attempt for the presidency of River Plate. But not much: he got 3% and came in last of the five candidates that ran. A ferocious opponent of Daniel Passarella, now he has turned into his adviser. He managed to direct the Football Council of the Salta club Juventud Antoniana, but after a series of accusations splayed over the sale of the stadium, he was fired. Last year, the sensationalist newspaper Libre published a report in which he was accused of fraud and that Banco Nacion bounced more than 200 checks of his, for three million pesos. In 2007, he was the intervenor in the PJ of Corrientes designated by Menem, Ramón Puerta and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, after the meeting held in San Luis, with the proposal of frustrating the presidential candidacy of CFK. For 2011, he tried to reposition himself into the PJ structures of the capital. The Frigate Libertad sailed on June 2 from Buenos Aires. The following month, while the ship was crossing the Atlantic between Venezuela and Portugal, Mera Figueroa communicated with Parrilli to put forth an issue “of great interest for the country.” At a meeting the Secretary General granted on July 26, Mera Figueroa brought a note writted for Cristina by Jay Newman, vice president of NML, of the Cayman Islands. It said that “we understand that your government is studying creative ways” to resolve the lawsuits over pending payments on Argentine bonds and offered to meet “with whomever you designate to represent the Argentine Republic.” That same afternoon, the spokesman for the State Department of the United States, Mike Hammer, said in a press conference in Washington that his country was urging Argentina to “respect its international obligations and normalize its relations with the financial community.” According to the newspaper Clarin, he added that the Unietd States wanted to maintain good relations with Argentina, but that for that it would be “important that this issue be resolved, which would bring a better investment climate.” On August 14, when the Frigate Libertad was navigated between Spain and Portugal, and on September 20, while the ship was about to reach the first sub-Saharan African port, in Senegal, Mera Figueroa again called to seek a response. The last communciation was on October 5, with the Frigate Libertad already detained in Ghana. “I have a solution,” he said. He offered to make efforts to avoid the daily port payment of US$50,000 and suggested that if Argentina paved the way to pay the US$4 billion that the vulture fund demanded, NML could have granted a credit of US$2 billion for YPF. “If this doesn’t solve it, they will go after Argentine planes,” he said. The President ordered that there be no response.
The National Interest
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
By J. Peter Pham
Last Thursday, a judge in Ghana upheld a court order impounding the legendary three-masted flagship of the Argentine Navy as part of a debt dispute with a commercial creditor of the Latin American country. While Judge Richard Adjei Frimpong’s ruling was limited to the particulars of the case before him, its implications are quite significant for Ghana and developing countries in general—and also for their relationship with the international financial system.
Ever since authorities in the West African country detained the ARA Libertad last week on the basis of a court order obtained from a local tribunal, much of the discussion about the incident has taken its cue from the angry reaction of the Foreign Ministry spokesman in Buenos Aires who denounced the action as that of “vulture funds” and “speculators” who had “crossed a new limit” in their “extortion.” The rather undiplomatic implication was that Ghana is somehow a dupe, if not a stooge, of these malevolent predators. Yet there is another, more likely, explanation: by bringing the Argentines to book in the spectacularly dramatic manner which they did, officials in Ghana knew exactly what they were doing and acted in their own interest—and that of other developing countries—by holding an international scofflaw accountable.
Reuters
Monday, October 15, 2012
By Guido Nejamkis and Helen Poppe
Argentina replaced its navy chief on Monday as it investigates the seizure of a frigate in Ghana by bondholders who say they will not release the vessel until the South American country repays money owed them after its 2002 debt default.
The Libertad, a training frigate with some 300 crew on board, was detained in the Ghanaian port of Tema on Oct. 2 under a court order obtained by NML Capital Ltd, an affiliate of investment firm Elliott Management.
The firm says Argentina owes it over $300 million on defaulted debt and it will only release the ship if the country pays it at least $20 million.
The Buenos Aires Herald
Monday, October 15, 2012
In a written statement, the Ministry of Defence informed that it had relieved two Navy officials from their command and had opened up an investigation against them over the decision to make the Libertad frigate dock in Ghana, where it has remained impounded for the last ten days due to a vulture fund claim.
Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli relieved Navy’s Secretary Luis María González Day and Doctrine and Organization General Director Alfredo Mario Blanco from their command over the impounding of the Libertad.
The Buenos Aires Herald
Monday, October 15, 2012
Vice-Admiral Daniel Alberto Martín was designated as the new head of the Navy, replacing Rear-Admiral Luis María González Day, who tendered his resignation before Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli in the midst of the Libertad frigate conflict.
Paz's resignation was tendered after the Defence Ministry announced it had relieved two Navy officials from their command and opened an investigation to determine responsibilities in the decision to make the Libertad frigate dock in the Tema port.
The vice-admiral was designated by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and confirmed by Presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro at the Government House.
Public Radio International
Monday, October 15, 2012
By David Leveille
Click HYPERLINK to listen to story: http://www.theworld.org/2012/10/argentinas-ship-libertad-seized-in-dispute-over-debt-repayment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=argentinas-ship-libertad-seized-in-dispute-over-debt-repayment
For our Geo Quiz we’re searching for a port city where an Argentine Navy ship has been detained.
The “Libertad” is far from Argentina’s shores on the other side of the Atlantic, in fact.
It was seized in the West African nation of Ghana in early October.
The ship and its international crew of 200 were on a training voyage. But they’re unable to sail on from Ghana because of a multi million dollar dispute between Argentina and some of its creditors.
We’ll unpack that dispute in just a moment. For now try and name Ghana’s largest seaport that’s located about 15 miles east of the capital Accra.
For the answer we turn to Wall Street Journal reporter Ianthe Dugan, who’s following the story of the Argentine ship seized at the dock in the Ghanaian port of Tema. Dugan says the impasse involves a New York financial services company’s claims on money they say is owed to them by Argentina, and it is getting more complicated by the day.
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