Last Friday, just as trick or treating was getting underway here in the United States, news hit that President Kirchner sent a bizarre five-page missive to President Obama threatening "serious consequences" for the bilateral relationship between the United States and Argentina if ATFA co-chair Nancy Soderberg was named to a post that she has actually held since 2011.

President Kirchner Takes on Nancy Soderberg

November 4, 2014 Last Friday, just as trick or treating was getting underway here in the United States, news hit that President Kirchner sent a bizarre five-page missive to President Obama threatening "serious consequences" for the bilateral relationship between the United States and Argentina if ATFA co-chair Nancy Soderberg was named to a post that she has actually held since 2011. The condescending tone of President Kirchner's letter sent via Twitter to the U.S. President might have best been illustrated by her sarcastic remark that she hoped it was all just a case of mistaken identity.  Whatever Kirchner's intent, the letter is the best example we have seen of how debased Argentine foreign policy has become since Argentina's Foreign Minister Hector Timerman threatened U.S. envoy Kevin Sullivan back in September. Cristina didn't stop with her objections over Soderberg's appointment, either.  She went on to accuse the United States of arming Mexican drug gangs, express her suspicions that the U.S. was arming the terrorists in ISIS and claim that the videos showing the murder of American and British citizens were Hollywood productions.  She also accused Soderberg of somehow inventing the very widely reported worries about the influence of drug-trafficking on Argentine government security forces and local governments.  In reality, the fears about a "narco-state" were not raised by Soderberg, but by elected officials in Argentina. We've noted that the letter about Nancy Soderberg set off almost universal derision on social media in Argentina.  Journalists, economists, academics, people of all ages, expressed their embarrassment over their President's latest tirade.  A columnist for Clarin newspaper, the political humorist Alejandro Borensztein, mixed satire with a sense of exasperation over the impact on the country's image, and the disconnect between its President and the daily reality of life in the country:

"And the truth is that we can't continue living in an altered state every damn day as has been happening. Talk to her, make her see reason, explain to her that the end is still a year away, that we're all very sorry that she has lost the elections and has no re-election … but after 2015 we will need to keep eating and she can't break all dishes before she goes."

Borensztein, like many other Argentines, also raised a central contradiction in Cristina's letter about Nancy Soderberg.  After years of ranting about safeguarding Argentina's sovereignty, the Argentine President had the temerity to demand her own veto of U.S. President or Congressional appointments on domestic U.S. advisory boards.  All the while, Cristina has appointed scores of people with very public, aggressive hatred for the United States – its government, its way of life and its people – to positions in her own Cabinet. Kirchner governments have given millions of pesos in public funds to Hebe de Bonafini, the head of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who said shortly after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001 that she was "very happy" to hear of the attacks and the murder of thousands of innocent Americans was justified.  She said she was "content" to learn that that the U.S. had been attacked, and it "didn't hurt me one bit".   (Is it the same Hebe de Bonifini,President Kirchner?  Or is it just a case of homonyms?) Luis D'Elia, a former Cabinet member who is seated in the front row at Cristina's Casa Rosada speeches, is a well-known anti-Semite who blames Americans and Jews for all of the woes of humanity and openly supports the terrorist group Hezbollah and the Iranian government.  Much of the government-owned and government-funded media publish a relentless volume of hateful, anti-American tirades on a regular basis.   One newspaper in particular, Pagina/12, whose publishers have gotten hundreds of millions of pesos from Kirchner governments, ran a racist cartoon of President Obama, captioned "Obama the Waiter".  The October 25 article it accompanied was, apparently, the source of President Kirchner's letter to Obama about Soderberg.  So none of these questions that the Argentine President has raised are to be seriously considered, given the amazing hypocrisy built into the letter itself. Nancy Soderberg has expertise on a range of issues, including providing private sector input into the declassification of documents at the National Archives.  Soderberg is not a "government official" but a private sector representative on an advisory panel.  And by the way, the National Archives are not, as President Kirchner seems to think, at the White House.  (Perhaps Argentina's hapless and isolated Ambassador Cecilia Nahon should consult a map and pass this information along to Axel.) Nancy Soderberg has been a thoughtful advocate for Argentina to settle with its creditors.  All of Soderberg's written and public statements have been consistent – she has reminded President Kirchner that her own government has committed in writing to honor the rulings of U.S. courts—courts her government willingly ceded jurisdiction to. There is no question that this is the real reason why President Kirchner writes letters, sends out angry tweets, and gives astonishing televised speeches about dark, imaginary conspiracies.  She doesn't like to be reminded of the commitments she's made.  But no matter. ATFA's message remains the same to President Kirchner:  there is still time to sit down, negotiate, settle with your creditors, and end this conflict that never needed to begin.

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About the American Task Force Argentina: The American Task Force Argentina (ATFA) is an alliance of organizations united for a just and fair reconciliation of the Argentine government's 2001 debt default and subsequent restructuring. Our members work with lawmakers, the media, and other interested parties to encourage the United States government to vigorously pursue a negotiated settlement with the Argentine government in the interests of American stakeholders.