The prosecuting attorney, Carlos Stornelli, the judge who pleases him, Jorge Urso, and the senators who encouraged him, Martín Irurzun and Horacio Cattani, have gained experience in the so beaten Argentine Justice whose image is getting worse and worse. Another prosecuting attorney, Miguel Angel Osorio, asked judge Gabriel Cavallo- we expect that he will act more seriously than Urso- to apply the now grotesque charges of "delinquent association" to the current president, Fernando De La Rúa, the present minister of economy, Domingo Cavallo, the vice minister of economy, Daniel Marx, and to the former official and financer, David Mulford.
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The reason? The commissions paid to private banks in the megaswap. It is a controversial issue it is said that commissions were high, 0.55%- but it deserves to be debated in congress. Not because the president joined ministers to form a "delinquent association" for having paid in excess. The funny thing is that the judge Cavallo will not take a position about the absurd argument of the prosecuting attorney and will likely pass the responsibility on to the judge Jorge Ballestero who is investigating, more seriously, a complaint related to the external debt.
Meanwhile, the judge Urso has become a machine of bad judicial choices. Yesterday, a rumour circulated that he would extend (for ten days) the period to decide whether he will prosecute Carlos Menem. Monday was the deadline and everybody asserts that given the last stubbornness of this unusual judge he will prosecute him. If he does not do so, he will prolong the unpleasant situation of Menem in Don Torcuato. Urso's situation is funnier because he brought Menem's examination forward for almost 40 days and gave him only two days to get acquainted with the case while Urso, who enjoys freedom, drags along time and postpones the terms of Menem's appellations.
Not having allowed being examined by Urso, when the judge summoned him, talks about the dignity of a former president who does not want to talk about the actions of a government elect and constitutional. But that gives him fewer chances-though it is believed that he never had chances before Urso, Stornelli, Irurzun and Cattani, advertised by the monopoly Clarín- to make the judge of the case reconsider the arrest and favour the legitimate course of action of a magistrate. Of course, as long as he does not politicise the case as he is doing at present.
The absurd arrest of Carlos Menem under the charges of "delinquent association" is an act of government that has united legal opinions and reached the international level.
Last weekend, representatives from Mexican parties (Cecilia Romero Castillo), Chilean parties (Gutemberg Martínez) and Brazilian parties (Jorge Bornhaunsen) met in Buenos Aires and promised to make their governments raise awareness about the arbitrariness of the application of the charges of "delinquent association" to judge government cabinets. In the next days, another meeting will be held in Bogotá and parties such as Partido Popular (Spain) of José María Aznar or Forza Italia of Silvio Berlusconi will take part in it.
Precedent
It is understandable that Argentina is a concern at an international level not only because of the ups and downs of its economy. Also, due to the unusual behaviour of justice because, with the criteria of Urso, Stornelli, Irurzun and Cattani plus the authoritarianism of the newspaper Clarín any foreign judge would observe the precedents and revise the decrees of the governments and could arrest former presidents or accuse them of "delinquent association" for the appointment of ministers with the aim of "committing offences" as this Argentine quintet did with Carlos Menem until he was arrested.
The fact that the arrest of Menem is due to political reasons is almost unquestionable. The followers of a senator candidate in the Federal Capital for the UCR party, Rodolfo Terragno, stuck posters on the walls that read "the ruling alliance voted for this: Menem arrested". Terragno is the former cabinet chief of De La Rúa's administration.
At the same time, in an announcement published in newspapers in which the Argentine state is requested to "take charge" of the almost closed company, Aerolíneas Argentinas, the name of the person who reported the case of weapons, who imprisoned Menem, the lawyer Ricardo Monner Sanz, and who is mentioned in Clarín usually, appears in the announcement next to other names from the traditional communism and the local left wing, such as Jorge Altamira (Partido Obrero, Troskist), Patricio Etchegaray (communism), Abel Latendorf (Marxist-Leninist) , Lía Méndez (ecologist) and artists and intellectuals who have defended leftist positions such as Norman Brisky, "Pino" Solanas, David Viñas, Eduardo Barcesat (orthodox communism) and Pablo Reznik (Partido Obrero, Trostkist), among others.
If the judge Urso postpones the proceedings for ten days he delays Menem's appellation before the court. Here, Menem does not have chances, either, because the court is made up of Irurzun and Cattani, two men who fostered the absurd legal action of the judge of the case and his prosecuting attorney, Stornelli.
Just after that, the issue would be dealt with in the Supreme Court but it is estimated that Menem's arrest would not last more than three months.
Even some politicians of the PJ party (main opposition) opposed to Menem's wing are angry at the course of action of the quartet of magistrates and the monopoly Clarín. " The prosecution of Menem helps us to charge against him. The home arrest of Menem in Don Torcuato (where crowds of people gather together, as if in Gaspar Ramos) under ridiculous charges is the worst thing it could have happened to us," they say.
Gaspar Campos was the name of the street, in Vicente López, of the residential house where Juan Perón (former Argentinean president) stayed in 1972 in Buenos Aires following his arrival in the country after 17 years abroad. His supporters used to go on pilgrimage towards the residence. Even the leaders of the opposition such as Ricardo Balbín went there.
