Argentina's new president makes a misstep

BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER

Argentina's new president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, started her first week in office on the wrong foot: She needlessly moved closer to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and away from the United States.

Judging from what I heard from sources across the political spectrum in Washington, Fernández's knee-jerk reaction to a Miami court's indictment alleging that Venezuela contributed money to Argentina's 2007 presidential elections was a textbook case of political inexperience, bad advice, greater-than-expected ties to Venezuela's petro-populist government or all of the above.

Instead of applauding the U.S. investigation and stressing that it doesn't allege at any point that she or her closest aides were aware of the Venezuelan government campaign contributions, Fernández responded -- in tandem with the Chávez government -- by blaming the whole case on an alleged U.S. government conspiracy against her country.

Fernández, a former first lady and senator who likes to be described as ''Argentina's Hillary,'' claimed that the U.S. indictment was a ''garbage'' U.S. intelligence operation aimed at poisoning Argentina's relations with Venezuela, adding that she would not allow herself to be pressured by the United States.

The U.S. State Department said the indictment had nothing to do with foreign policy, and resulted from an independent Justice Department and FBI investigation.

Argentine officials say privately that part of Fernández's irate reaction was because U.S. officials failed to give her advance notice of the indictment.

But diplomatic sources who have followed the case believe that the State Department, which was trying to revamp U.S. relations with Argentina with the arrival of the new government, was either notified at the last minute or taken by surprise by the indictments.

AIRPORT INCIDENT

The case stems from an August 2007 incident at the Buenos Aires airport when dual Venezuelan-U.S. citizen Guido Antonini Wilson -- said to be close to the Chávez government -- arrived with nearly $800,000 in cash. He was traveling aboard an Argentine government-rented aircraft with a Venezuelan state-run oil company delegation hours before Chávez's arrival in the country.

Antonini had failed to declare the money and, when a customs inspector discovered it, left the cash at the airport and abandoned the country two days later for Uruguay. For months, the case remained a mystery.

Then, earlier this week, U.S. prosecutors in Miami arrested three Venezuelans and one Uruguayan citizen. They were charged with being unregistered Venezuelan agents and conspiring on behalf of the Venezuelan government to coerce a U.S. citizen -- Antonini -- to fabricate documents that would have hidden the fact that he had carried Venezuelan government funds for a candidate in Argentina's election.

What should have been Fernández's reaction?

• First, she should have noted that while assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Mulvihill told the magistrate in oral arguments that according to one of the defendants the money was meant for Fernández's campaign, the indictment doesn't mention Argentina's new president at any point, nor imply that she or any of her close aides were familiar with the Venezuelan campaign contributions.

• Second, Fernández should have pledged Argentina's cooperation with the U.S. investigation, while calling on the U.S. government to help in Argentina's own investigation into the case. Argentina has officially requested Antonini's extradition from the United States.

• Third, Fernández should have known that the U.S. justice system is not only more independent than that of most other countries but the FBI has tapes of the defendants' conversations with Antonini, which will be released at the trial.

NEEDLESS ENEMIES

My conclusion: I'm not ruling out that Fernández will end up being a better president than her husband. I met her once, and she impressed me as someone who is more aware than the former president of Argentina's need to insert itself in the global economy and attract investments.

But rather than reacting with statesmanship, she played the anti-American card, creating needless enemies among Republicans and Democrats in Washington.

Without jeopardizing Venezuela's financial aid to Argentina -- Chávez has bought more than $4.5 billion in Argentina's foreign debt bonds -- she could have taken the high road.

And if the cash was for her campaign, ''Argentina's Hillary'' should have done what the real Hillary Clinton did recently when it became known that indicted Chinese businessmen Norman Hsu had poured $800,000 into her campaign. She returned the money immediately, and her campaign said it should never have been accepted. Instead, Fernández bought herself a needless fight with Washington.