US gov't releases docs detailing bilateral agreement in US plane case

Relations between Argentina and the US remain tense as the investigation of the material seized in a US Air Force plane that landed in Buenos Aires last Thursday continues. 

The US government has now released the exclusive documents detailing the bilateral agreement.

The arrival of the plane last February 10th sparked a bilateral conflict between the US Department of State and the Foreign Ministry, since according to local authorities the plane was carrying “unauthorized materials” such as “software, security information, weapons and narcotics.

However, the plane’s arrival (and its cargo) had been in the government’s agenda for months, for which the US government has now released several documents detailing the “temporary importation of weapons and equipment and the final importation of explosives and ammunitions,” destined to be used on the course “Manejo en situaciones de crisis y tomas de rehenes para las fuerzas de seguridad.”

According to the classified documents, it was actually 9 specialists (not 12) who landed in Buenos Aires in order to take part in the course, which trained GEOF special forces in how to handle a crisis and a hostage-taking situation.

The government also confiscated the communications equipment being carried by US soldiers, and it remains under custody until the matter is resolved. The government insists that such “sensitive material” had not been listed by the US government.

Sources at the US Department of State, however, once again told the BuenosAiresHerald.com that such equipment belongs to the soldiers since they are on active duty and they carry it in case they are reassigned to some other part of the planet.

Sources explained that they are not used for illegal wiretapping but for internal communication between soldiers.