Natasha Niebieskikwiat
07/20/2021 11:36
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 07/20/2021 11:36 AM
In the Government there are those who assure that the complaint of the administration of Luis Arce in Bolivia against Mauricio Macri for the alleged smuggling of "war material" to plot against Evo Morales in 2019 is comparable with the trafficking of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador.
This was one of the most relevant cases in judicial matters of the Menem era.
But in fact, the complaint against the leader of the PRO and several of his former officials is finding
obstacles
that make it conspicuously more important for Kirchnerism than for justice in Bolivia.
In parallel, in Argentina, and at the impulse of the Government, the Economic Criminal Judge Javier López Biscayart opened the judicial fair on Monday to investigate the alleged aggravated smuggling of riot control material to Bolivia in 2019.
For the case, in Bolivia critical voices continue to appear about the scale of the Argentine material that the Arce government said it had found to try to prove that the macrismo sent "war equipment" destined to carry out a coup d'état that Evo Morales claims to have suffered at that time. November 2019, when the union centrals, the police and later the Army advised him to resign to avoid more deaths in the street clashes.
This Tuesday, military experts consulted in the neighboring country by the daily
El Deber
and
Página Siete
assure that the material that the Arce government claims to have found and that it would belong to Argentina
"is not enough for a regiment."
Following what was reported by the current Minister of Defense, Edmundo Novillo, the material that was found is as follows: 10 packages of vests, 27 packages of Block loaders, Colt M4 rifle, a package of Franchi Spas 15 caliber 12/70 shotguns, sub MACAL Mission rifle, two packages of night sight, two packages of modular vision, 2,459 9mm caliber cartridges and 750 packages of 5.56 caliber cartridges.
All these elements, said Novillo, were sent on November 12, 2019,
a day before the provisional government of Jeanine Añez took office - imprisoned for considering her as the leader of a coup d'état against the leader of the Movement for Socialism.
However, when consulted by journalists, the renowned Bolivian expert Samuel Montaño said that Arce was
"making a mistake"
with this complaint since it is "normal for the embassy of a country, when an internal conflict such as the one that occurred, is generated in Bolivia after the fraud of the October elections of that year, the 21-day protest, and the resignation and departure of the country of former President Evo Morales, they maintain a squad, a platoon, to protect the infrastructure and diplomats if they are attacked ".
Montaño agrees with the version that Macri and his former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich have given of events, but also with other voices in Bolivia such as former President Carlos Mesa, and various military personnel.
Montaño recalled that
the Bolivian armed forces have 50,000 men,
so it is "ridiculous" to consider that this Argentine team was destined to support "a seditious process" against Morales.
And he said that
"the amount is minimal"
to consider it smuggling or arms trafficking.
"The armed forces have a necessary amount of war material, Minister Novillo talks about a thing of 27 items including M-4 rifles, chargers and others, that is definitely not enough to arm even a regiment."
For experts that amount of material is allowed on an international scale.
And if the weapons displayed by the Bolivian government are compared, they coincide with the between 10 and 12 gendarmes from the Alacrán Group who arrived in Argentina that November.
"This rifle material coincides with the amount of personnel transferred," Montaño said.
It is very curious how in Bolivia the military technicians raised their voices against Arce's complaint that targets Macri, Bullrich and other former officials.
Morales and Arce have also spoken of an alleged plan to destabilize Morales by former President Donald Trump and the Ecuadorian Lenin Moreno.
In the current Argentine opposition, however, not even in the circle closest to Macri - who curiously still has not returned from Europe - does he defend him.
While ex-Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, scared, chose to detach himself from the complaint without making a strong defense of what is being denounced, Kirchnerism acted quickly and in a buckled manner. The two-time Ambassador K in La Paz, Ariel Basterio, took aim at his predecessor, Normando Álvarez García, saying that both he and the then attaché of the Gendarmerie "knew of the shipment that it was a donation" and works side by side with the Bolivian government to to advance the complaint.
Álvarez García, who is the Minister of Labor in Jujuy, was decorated by Governor Gerardo Morales, in a gesture of support.
It is also known that in Kirchnerism no one seeks to "deliver" "Chiqui". The former ambassador, who said from the outset that he was unaware of the alleged letter of thanks that Bolivia says that the Bolivian military sent him for the alleged shipment of anti-riot equipment - which Arce, Morales, and Kirchnerism call war material -
assures that the Macri government He never sought to destabilize Evo Morales.
On the contrary, it affirms that through its embassy it was sought to pacify the situation by sheltering Morales' ministers in the Argentine diplomatic headquarters in La Paz.
The complaint about the alleged irregular shipment of Argentine anti-riot weapons to Bolivia came to light at a conference of the Bolivian Foreign Minister in which he showed a letter signed by former Air Force commander Jorge Terceros thanking former Ambassador Alvarez García for the alleged shipment. But the lawyer of this soldier said days later that the signature of his defendant had been forged.