The Argentine Government opens a new diplomatic front by denouncing the presence of pro-Iran militias in Chile and Bolivia

The “unwavering commitment” to Israel that the Government of Javier Milei announced after Iran's attack on that country last weekend threatens to open a new diplomatic crisis for Argentina. After the Argentine president interrupted a trip to the United States on Saturday to return to Buenos Aires and form a “crisis committee” with his cabinet to analyze possible responses to the Iranian attack on Israel, his Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, has stated that Argentina is experiencing a “delicate situation” because “it is in an area where there is an active presence of two forces allied to Iran.” In a television interview Tuesday night, Bullrich denounced the presence of the pro-Iran Hezbollah militia in northern Chile and claimed that Bolivia hosts hundreds of members of the Quds Force, a military intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Chile. Iran. “Today Argentina has all the alerts on,” said the minister in statements that have raised complaints from the Governments of Bolivia and Chile.

The Chilean Government has sent a note of protest to Argentina through its Foreign Ministry. The head of the South American Division, Ambassador Christian Hodges-Nugent, did so to Javier Lareo, head of the Chancellery of the Argentine Embassy in Chile, the second on board of the diplomatic mission. “I demand that the Argentine Minister of Security that if she has antecedents, she delivers them and collaborates,” President Boric asked, in a radio interview this Wednesday morning. “Chile does not protect any terrorist group, in our territory or outside of it,” the president stated. “It is not through the press that intelligence issues are discussed,” complained Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Tohá, in response to Bullrich's speculation that Hezbollah militiamen operate around the city of Iquique, in the north of that country. “When an authority suspects sensitive issues in this matter, the channel to make those observations is through intelligence collaboration and police collaboration,” requested the Chilean minister.

The Bolivian Foreign Ministry has also rejected what it considers “mistaken and careless statements” by the Argentine Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, who stated that Bolivia, after a Defense agreement with Iran, “has allowed the installation of 700 Iranians that we consider who are members of the Quds Guard, which is… like an armed wing of the Iranian Islamic State.” The minister also stated that she has increased security operations on the border with Bolivia in search of “people who do not speak Spanish, but have a Bolivian passport.” “We deny and emphatically reject that Bolivia protects on its borders people who spread terror, insecurity and anxiety,” the Bolivian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Bolivia considers that “circumstantial officials of the Argentine Government” seek to cause “unnecessary friction between brother peoples.” She assures that she is a pacifist and, therefore, has relations with all the peoples of the world, alluding to Iran; At the same time, she demands the Argentine Government's respect for the “centennial history of brotherhood” between both countries. The statement also announces that the Argentine embassy in La Paz has been summoned to give explanations.

The Milei Government has engaged in a “pro-Western” discourse and “defense of life, liberty and private property” in its foreign policy. Milei dedicated his first presidential trip to Israel, where he announced the move of the Argentine embassy to Jerusalem, and he usually dedicates a large part of his public agenda to meeting with Jewish organizations both in Argentina and abroad: the trip that interrupted the last weekend. The week had begun in Miami, where he received a decoration from an ultra-Orthodox synagogue.

Milei wants to make it clear that the United States and Israel are his great international allies, because he shares with those countries “the values ​​of the defense of life, liberty and private property,” as he announced at the beginning of April when he flew to Patagonia. at the last minute to announce, together with the Pentagon's military delegate in Latin America, the construction of a joint military base with the United States.

Bolivia, the target of the Milei Government

Iran's attack on Israel occurred in the same week that Argentine justice once again pointed to Iran as the main suspect in the attack against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), which left 85 dead and about 300 injured in Buenos Aires in 1994. and that remains unpunished. The Federal Court of Criminal Cassation, a court of second instance, declared that the attack was a crime against humanity, and one of its judges called for legal reforms so that the accused can be tried in absentia. The Government celebrated it as the end of “a pact” of the previous Peronist Governments “that promoted and guaranteed terrorist impunity.” This precedent has raised alarm bells in the Milei Government, which sees the Defense pact between Iran and Bolivia, its neighbor on the northern border, as a danger that can generate “retaliation” for Milei's position regarding the conflict in the Middle East. .

In July of last year, the Bolivian Minister of Defense, Edmundo Novillo, signed an act of bilateral understanding with his Iranian counterpart Mohamed Reza Qarai Ashtiani. At that time, deputies from the parties that now make up the Argentine Government condemned what, according to them, was an “offense,” because it was carried out with the country to which Argentina was responsible for the AMIA attack. In Bolivia, the newspaper

El Deber

, using anonymous sources, stated that the agreement with Iran “includes lithium, missiles, weapons and intelligence in cyberspace.” Novillo considered these versions a “fanciful and sensational fallacy, caused by political interests.” Regarding the Argentine criticisms, he called them “exaggerated” and typical of the pre-electoral environment that country was then experiencing. The Bolivia-Iran agreement “is not a threat to anyone,” he assured. “Our objective has not been to obtain missiles or weapons. “I completely, categorically and absolutely rule out that we have requested military aid” from Iran, he insisted.

According to the statements of the Bolivian and Iranian authorities at that time, the agreement was to serve to repair Bolivia's military aircraft and for this country to obtain Iranian drones, with which it would fly over the country's enormous border areas and strengthen the fight. against smuggling. Since that moment, the execution of this document of intentions did not advance publicly, both due to the reaction it generated in the neighborhood and due to the economic problems suffered by Bolivia, which have significantly restricted its spending capacity.

During the years in which the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) is in power, the opposition has rejected Bolivia's inclusion in the bloc of nations opposed to the United States led by Russia and China. For example, China, Iran and Bolivia refrained from condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2023. In the past, the visit of some Iranian leaders to the country generated friction with Argentina, which was minimized due to the political sympathy felt by the governments. Peronists for the MAS. Throughout this time, this party has defended the need for an “anti-imperialist foreign policy” and has considered the United States its worst enemy. Since 2008, when he expelled the ambassador of this country, he has not had relations at this level with Washington.