December 20, 2007 (LPAC)--Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner sharply attacked the Bush Administration Dec. 18 for good reasons. Reasons which were related to a Miami-based federal prosecutor's recent charge that $800,000 smuggled into Argentina last August was an attempt by the Venezuelan government to fund the Presidential campaign of now-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The Argentine government said the U.S. statements are "dirty operations" against the new President.

Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the Aysa firm, Kirchner, referencing the actions of the federal prosecutor’s recent charge and the U.S. refusal to extradite Miami resident Guido Antonini Wilson who carried the suitcase full of cash into Argentina, responded to remarks of U.S. Ambassador Anthony Wayne, warning him that "Argentina is not a colony. You must respect our justice system." After customs officials seized the suitcase, Antonini, who holds both U.S. and Venezuelan citizenship, fled Argentina and is now holed up in Miami, where Argentine officials charge he has now become a "protected" government witness, rather than a felon.

After calling the U.S. actions "shameful," Kirchner demanded that Antonini be extradited. He said the reasons for the U.S. actions are motivated by the desire to stop "the creation of the Bank of the South," the new regional financing entity founded by seven Ibero-American Presidents in Buenos Aires on Dec. 9, and the U.S. concern about Argentina's physical economic model.

On Dec. 18, Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana called Mr. Wayne into his office to reiterate the demand for Antonini's extradition, and to tell him that he would no longer have unrestricted access to government officials, and must limit his contacts only to the Foreign Ministry. The U.S. "has offended us in a surprising and unfair manner," Taiana told Wayne.

It is also noteworthy that from outside Argentina, Uruguay's Foreign Minister Reinaldo Gargano offered support for President Cristina Fernandez, and characterized the Antonini affair as "a scheme intended to achieve conjuncture of political results, for the purpose of harming the image of a person who had absolutely nothing to do with this."