LAS MIL Y UNA NOCHES DEL GOBIERNO ARGENTINO. Repercusión de los atentados terroristas de 1992 y 1994 en la política exterior del país

Resumen

The Argentine foreign policy concerning the Middle East, especially
since the terrorist attack on the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and on
Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in 1994, can be compared
to the behavior of King Shahryar’s young wife in the well known Arabian
stories of the “One Thousand and One Nights”. The successive
administrations have acted very much like “Scheherazade” and have
narrated different stories which have been alternately heard by Iran,
Syria, Israel, the United States or the Jewish community in our country;
they, at different moments, have resembled the king whom it is
necessary to keep distracted to prevent the undesirable event from
actually taking place.
The eagerness of former president Carlos Menem to play center
stage involved Argentina in a very sensitive complex conflict in a country
that holds the largest Jewish community of Latin America.
Since the terrorist attacks, the Menem (second term in office)
and the De la Rúa and Duhalde administrations upheld a kind of discourse
intended to demonstrate political support but without clear
explanation of the events. The present Kirchner Administration has
not been able to perform differently. Notwithstanding the eloquent
speeches delivered, the attack has not been explained and relations
with Iran continue to be tight.