US embassy cable - 04BUENOSAIRES2714

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002714 
 
SIPDIS 
 
INL FOR TOM MARTIN AND AL MATANO 
L FOR PATT PRUGH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, AR 
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA SIGNS INL LETTER OF AGREEMENT 
 
REF: STATE 186187 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Foreign Minister Beilsa and Ambassador 
Gutierrez signed the first INL Letter of Agreement (LOA) 
since 1995.  Post would like to express its appreciation to 
the INL and L Bureaus for their tremendous assistance in this 
process.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) On September 17, Argentina's Foreign Minister Rafael 
Antonio Bielsa signed the first INL Letter of Agreement 
between the GOA and the United States since 1995.  The 
agreement marks the end of years of often highly contentious 
on-again-off-again negotiations between Post and the Foreign 
Ministry's Office of Legal Affairs.  For LOA text see reftel. 
 
3.  (SBU) Eight months ago Post decided to revisit the LOA 
issue with the GOA, and developed an integrated country team 
approach to constructively engage the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (MFA) on several levels.  Both the Ambassador and the 
DCM repeatedly extolled the potential benefits of an LOA with 
a wide range of high-level contacts, and Post included LOA 
talking points for visiting CODELS and high level visitors to 
use whenever the issue of GOA assistance was broached.  Pol, 
Econ, DEA and LEGATT representatives also routinely discussed 
the possible benefits of an LOA with their contacts, both 
within the Foreign Ministry and with interested host country 
entities such as the Justice Ministry, Gendarmeria, Aduanas, 
Federal Police, and SEDRANAR who stood to gain from an LOA 
agreement.  This multi-front, multi-level country team 
approach succeeded in keeping the pressure on the MFA, and 
more specifically on the MFA's Legal Section, to reach an 
agreement.  Combined with this mission-wide effort to keep 
the issue on the MFA's agenda, INL and L Bureaus both 
assisted greatly in keeping the LOA ball rolling by 
responding quickly to the GOA's questions and suggestions. 
The proactive and rapid response from INL, L and Post 
eliminated the MFA's favored method of deflecting pressure 
from other GOA entities, which was to claim that "they were 
awaiting a response from the Embassy." 
 
4.  (SBU) Post believes the turning point in the negotiations 
was a Conference Call suggested by Post, and chaired by Tom 
Martin; with the participation of Patt Prugh from L, WHA Desk 
Officer Randy Fleitman, Embassy personnel and the head of the 
MFA Legal Section.  During this conversation many of the 
traditional Argentine objections were overcome, and a road 
map was established that eventually led to an agreement. 
 
 
 
GUTIERREZ