CRISTINA FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER (CFK) ADDRESS AT THE UN – AMIA BOMBING

“why was there so much opposition and criticism against us negotiating with Iran a simple agreement of judicial cooperation for the Argentine judge to depose in Teheran the five Iranian citizens accused because of the laws that prevent the extradition of Iranian citizens? Why was that? And I heard the answer here, in the words of another president when he referred to hypocrisy in diplomatic relations. Lots of hypocrisy blended with lots of geopolitics and very little interest in setting the record straight when it comes to remembering and to honoring the truth and justice demanded by the victims and their relatives”

(…) For this reason, when in the year 2013 Argentina signed the Memorandum of Understanding precisely with the Islamic Republic of Iran to unblock the judicial matter that had brought the case to a halt years ago –please, bear in mind that the attack took place in 1994 and I am now referring to what happened in the year 2013- other governments had intervened, there had been other developments, and we were trying because we are firmly convinced of the need to combat terrorism and of the importance of not forgetting and of honoring truth and justice and of finally shedding light, finding those guilty and punishing them.

That was the objective of the memorandum of understanding. However, it seems as if all hell broke loose with the execution of the memorandum of understanding. Time went by and when the agreement is executed on April 2 between the 5 plus 1 and Iran, no longer with Ahmadinejad, but with Rouhaní, and with the negotiations well underway, one cannot but wonder: why was there so much opposition and criticism against us negotiating with Iran a simple agreement of judicial cooperation for the Argentine judge to depose in Teheran the five Iranian citizens accused because of the laws that prevent the extradition of Iranian citizens? Why was that? And I heard the answer here, in the words of another president when he referred to hypocrisy in diplomatic relations. Lots of hypocrisy blended with lots of geopolitics and very little interest in setting the record straight when it comes to remembering and to honoring the truth and justice demanded by the victims and their relatives. (…)

All of this amounts to something more than what I have already said. I used to believe that AMIA was a complex game of chess in international politics. Today I feel that in addition to a chess game, it is a spider web, a spider web of interests alien to my country; a spider web in which, like in all spider webs, it is only the weakest and the smallest that get caught whilst the others remain outside. (…)

I am not here to talk with hypocrisy or lies, I’ve come to tell the things that are happening, and also, as we have once said, a few days ago, to the US ambassador in our country, to ask for an explanation about the capacity in which this former member of the intelligence services of Argentina is here in the United States. He was in charge of the entire investigation of the AMIA case from the outset.

You may wonder why I spend so much time on this issue. It is very little compared with the time that organizations paid by vulture funds have devoted in this country to criticize, slander and offend us, as if we were accomplices of the Iranian regime. If we are accomplices of the Iranian regime, what is President Barack Obama then? Is he, too? (…)

I think hypocrisy and double standards cannot continue in diplomatic affairs. We cannot continue using weapons, instruments of international intrigue worthy of John le Carré, but old; because you know what? The communications world, this world of Internet globalization, which some dreamed would enable them to better dominate the entire world, today is also a powerful communication tool for everyone and for the entire global village where you instantly know what is happening in a particular place.

Therefore, in Argentina, my government, our government will tirelessly continue seeking the truth and justice in the AMIA case. We then ask for the cooperation of the country whose citizens are accused, and of this country, the United States, so that it will also help clarify the presence of this citizen that will surely be required, as he is already being required, by the State agencies in our country, the Argentine Republic”.

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