Argentine foreign minister accuses Buenos Aires mayor of behaving like a “feudal lord”
Timerman faults Macri for accepting US anti-terrorism training for city police without federal approval
[Translation of an article from Diario Hoy of La Plata, Argentina, for February 6. See original here.]
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman today accused Mauricio Macri [head of government of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires] of turning into “a feudal lord” within the city and repeated his criticism of Buenos Aires management for accepting financing from the United States for training of city police without notifying the federal government.
“I am a firm opponent of having the security forces trained by other countries,” declared the Kirchner administration’s head of diplomacy, who also said of recent statements by national and provincial authorities concerning the conflict, “The only thing they do is verify that my criticism was correct.”
In the same vein, he pointed out that he had always rejected that “the United States finance courses for Argentine security forces because that is a violation of national sovereignty.”
“If Argentina wants to participate in courses it can pay for them without having the one who pays say what will be studied,” he declared in an interview on La Red radio.
Timerman stated that he had had no official notice that members of the metropolitan police were attending courses at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in El Salvador with financing by the United States and held that “there is no notification of that in the chancellory.”
“I never knew of these courses because they did not go through the chancellory,” he stated and compared Macri’s decision with other situations, indicating that “when any minister or province goes outside the country they notify the chancellory.”
And he commented, “Mauricio Macri has no authority to carry out anti-terrorist activities. He makes deals with foreign governments that nobody has any notification of”…
He declared as well that “it is very importand that the executive branch reclaim control over what, how and where the security forces of the country are trained.”
“The last time [US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo] Valenzuela was here I told him Argentina was not interested in the US financing courses, then they go and talk directly with Macri, with [Minister of Justice Ricardo] Casal in the Province of Buenos Aires and they make their deals,” he added.
After recalling that “the only official authorized to sign agreements with foreign powers is the foreign minister,” he indicated that “Macri is involved in something he does not understand, his relations with the embassy for setting up a repressive anti-terrorist force that nobody in the government knows about.”
“Is this a feudal state? Macri believes that he is a feudal lord who is in the capital and he can do what he wants,” he added…
He claimed that “Macri enters into negotiations on the side with the embassy of the United States for training the municipal police.”
Tags: anti-terrorism, Argentina, Arturo Valenzuela, Buenos Aires, Hector Timerman, International Law Enforcement Academy, Mauricio Macri, police training, United States