Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Questions about corruption among the highest officials plagued
Menem's administration from the beginning. The president had
appointed his relatives to high government positions, which they used,
reporters alleged, to launder drug money. Questions also arose about the
duty-free import of foreign luxury cars. A group of Italian businessmen
gave President Menem, who loved fast cars, a new Ferrari. Despite the
relations between Menem and the United States (which one official jest-
ingly called “carnal” rather than “cordial”), the U.S. ambassador felt the
need to go public about the amount of graft foreign businessmen had to
pay. He charged that government officials held up the import of meat-
processing equipment, demanding that the Swift Armour Company
first give them “substantial payments.” Similarly, an accounting report
on the sale of Aerolíneas Argentinas revealed charges of $80 million in
“costs associated with the sale” (Christian 1991, 10; Verbitsky 1992,
21) as chronicled in a series of
NewYorkTimes
articles. Many people
began to suspect that privatization merely enlarged opportunities for
corruption, if graft was not, indeed its very purpose. Reporters also
discovered that economics minister Cavallo received a monthly salary
four times larger than his government paycheck. The difference was
coming from a “think tank” supported by 400 companies doing busi-
ness in Argentina.
Once again, the judiciary proved too weak to overcome the impunity
enjoyed by members of the executive and legislative branches. Some of
the cases came before judges appointed by Menem himself. The presi-
dent had also expanded the Supreme Court and appointed a majority
of the justices. Some functionaries accused of corruption brought libel
suits against the newspapers and reporters who had exposed them.
Government television announcers routinely attacked print report-
ers who wrote stories about bribery and corruption. One reporter was
even assassinated. At one moment during Menem's first term, nearly a
dozen cabinet-level and senior officials had been tainted by charges of
corruption. “Menem has so centralized power in the judiciary that I am
very worried,” said one prominent attorney quoted in yet another
New
YorkTimes
article. “But what makes me most afraid is that people don't
seem to care. All they seem to be worrying about is whether there is low
inflation” (Nash 1991, 15). Indeed, prosecutors eventually dropped all
charges against government officials.
The president himself had escaped most of these accusations—that
is, until he left office. Then, news articles began appearing that linked
Menem to illegal foreign sales of Argentine-made weapons. His name
