Rewards for Saying "yes" to America

Within the past decade, Argentina has become the most loyal and vocal ally of the U.S. in Latin America. After decades of hostile relations between the two countries -- and a brutal military dictatorship under General Jorge Videla, that toppled in 1983 -- Argentine President Carlos Saul Menem has led his country in an about-face. For this, Argentina has been rewarded with -- or perhaps was bought by -- millions of dollars in weapons giveaways under the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program.

Luckily for U.S. arms makers, the Clinton administration has also made it much easier for Argentina to buy brand-new U.S.-made arms. In August 1997 President Clinton lifted Jimmy Carter's 19-year ban on advanced weapon sales to Latin America, a restriction that was enacted to avoid arms races in the region. The controversial decision was prompted in part by pressure from the Pentagon, the defense industry's most faithful lobbyist. And Clinton went further for Argentina: In October 1997 he named it a "major non-NATO ally," the first in this hemisphere to be so distinguished. Although largely symbolic, the designation grants Argentina priority access to American-made weapons, parts, and ammunition.

U.S. arms sales in the Clinton years Direct government sales Government-approved sales (scale in millions of dollars)

Following decades of economic turmoil and staggering inflation, Argentina is "experiencing a boom in economic growth," according to the U.S. State Department. Since taking office in 1989, President Menem -- with the encouragement of the International Monetary Fund -- has handled economic restructuring by privatizing state-owned monopolies, liberalizing trade, and pegging the peso to the U.S. dollar. Despite Argentina's "unprecedented, profound, and remarkably successful" economic development -- the country's remarkable GDP growth and the doubling of both exports and imports since 1992 -- those same years have been difficult for many average Argentines. High unemployment persists, income disparities have worsened, and the percentage of households living below the poverty line in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (where one-third of the country's population resides) increased more than 50 percent between 1994 and 1996.

The U.S. has a vested interest in a healthy Argentina: The South American country imports over $5 billion in American goods annually, and many U.S. companies use Argentine operations to access the markets of Mercosur (a NAFTA-like Latin American trade bloc). The U.S. also has a strategic interest in accessing the waterways that link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans -- the Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, and Drake Passage.

From 1993 to 1997 the Clinton administration sold (or licensed U.S. corporations to sell) more than half a billion dollars in military equipment to Argentina. Of course, the U.S. hasn't required Argentina to pay for all of their military goodies.

Among President Clinton's gifts to Argentina were 10 Northrop Grumman OV-1D Mohawk aircraft, 12 Motorola AN/APS-94F airborne radars, eight McDonnell Douglas A-4F/TA-4J Skyhawk attack aircraft, 13 Bell Textron UH-IH utility helicopters, one Lockheed Martin P-3B Orion patrol aircraft, and 700 light antitank weapons -- all absolutely free.

All those giveaways have paid off for U.S. arms manufacturers in new sales and brand loyalty. In 1994 Argentina leased a tank-landing ship (built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California) for two years in a deal worth $1.8 million. Also in 1994, Argentina bought a $16 million Sikorsky S-70/UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, following up in 1995 by striking a $282 million deal with Lockheed Martin to upgrade its 36 McDonnell Douglas A-4M and OA-4M Skyhawk aircraft.

The U.S. remains close to Argentina despite an arms scandal involving 17 acting or former public officials, including President Menem himself. Between 1991 and 1995, thousands of tons of arms and gunpowder were routed from Argentina to Croatian and Bosnian militias, breaking U.N. arms embargoes. In 1995, 75 tons of guns and ammunition from Argentina were routed to Ecuador, which was engaged in a border dispute with Peru -- a dispute that Argentina itself was attempting to mediate.

Human-rights in Argentina remain a sensitive issue, although abuses occur with far less frequency than before. Antigovernment strikes and protests occur countrywide, according to Amnesty International, and reports of retaliatory torture and abuse by the police are widespread. Threats and acts of violence against journalists in Argentina are alarmingly commonplace; evidence suggests possible police complicity, and many attacks remain unresolved and not pursued by the government. Human-rights workers are also targets of violence: In May 1997 the Human Rights Commission office in Neuquén province was attacked with "incendiary devices."

-- j.j. richardson

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