The government of Argentina expressed its “strongest condemnation” on Tuesday for the presence, yesterday at the inauguration of Daniel Ortega, of the Iranian Mohsen Rezai, one of those accused by the Argentine justice for the attack against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association ( AMIA), which left 85 dead in Buenos Aires and after 28 years remains in impunity.
“The Argentine Republic expresses its strongest condemnation of the presence of Mohsen Rezai at the inauguration ceremony of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega,” says a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry of the South American country.
Mohsen Rezai is Vice President of Economic Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran and his presence in Managua constitutes for the Government of Alberto Fernández “an affront to the Argentine Justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack against the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), committed on July 18, 1994 ”.
“The Argentine Government demands once again from the Government of Iran full cooperation with the Argentine justice system, allowing the people who have been accused of participating in the attack against the AMIA to be tried by the competent courts,” the text adds.
Argentina expresses its strongest condemnation of the presence of Mohsen Rezai at the inauguration ceremony of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega.
Their presence constitutes an affront to the Argentine justice system and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack against the AMIA.
– Argentine Foreign Ministry ?? (@CancilleriaARG) January 11, 2022
According to information released by the Argentine newspaper Clarín, Rezai was commander of the powerful Corps of the Guardians of the Revolution-Pasdaran between 1993 and 1994 and currently has a red alert from Interpol. That is, he should be detained abroad, instead he was a guest of honor of Ortega along with the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the Cuban Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Also, other sources in the Argentine Foreign Ministry confirmed to the Efe agency that the Argentine ambassador in Nicaragua, Daniel Capitanich, representative of the country in Ortega’s inauguration, will send a diplomatic cable to confirm what he already transmitted by phone this Tuesday to his hierarchical superiors. : that “he never met, nor greeted, nor did he know that the Iranian was at the event.”
“Affront” to justice
Last August, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship issued another statement in which it condemned the decision of the Government of Iran to appoint two people required by the Argentine Justice for the attack against AMIA: Mohsen Rezai as vice president. of Economic Affairs and Ahmad Vahidi to command the Ministry of the Interior.
At that time, Argentina stressed that both cases constitute an “affront” to Justice and the victims of the “brutal terrorist attack” against the mutual company.
On both of them it was stated that they are the subject of a claim by Argentina for having had a “key participation in the decision-making and planning of the attack” against the AMIA and they weigh international arrest warrants from Interpol.
Both the Jewish community in Argentina and the Justice blame members of the then Iranian government and the Lebanese Hezbollah party for the attack on AMIA, the largest attack committed on Argentine soil, although none of those defendants could ever be arrested.
Nicaragua in CELAC
This situation occurs after Argentina assumed the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), a mechanism made up of some thirty countries in the Americas, including Nicaragua.
The South American country was the only candidate to preside over the group and finally managed to be elected by consensus after the 2021 summit of presidents in Mexico failed to achieve the necessary support due to Nicaragua’s refusal.
The Central American country had refused to support Argentina by accusing it of having become an “instrument of North American imperialism”, after the criticism that the Fernández government had made last year of the arrest of Nicaraguan opposition politicians.
However, after months of negotiations by Argentina to obtain the necessary support, Nicaragua overcame its reluctance and finally last Friday voted in its favor.
With information from Efe.
