HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------Former Argentine Minister Indicted
By KEVIN GRAY
.c The Associated Press
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - Former Argentine economy minister Domingo Cavallo was indicted Wednesday for arms trafficking to Croatia and Ecuador during the 1990s.
The arms shipments were made during the administration of former President Carlos Menem, when Cavallo was one of his top aides and signed a decree approving the sales.
The shipments to Croatia in 1991 and Ecuador in 1995 occurred while those countries were under international arms embargoes. Ecuador and Peru waged a brief border war in the 1990s.
The indictment charged Cavallo with ``aggravated contraband,'' saying he diverted 6,500 tons of weapons worth more than $100 million that were officially destined for Panama and Venezuela.
Cavallo was arrested April 3 and has been in a Buenos Aires military jail. The judge who handed down the indictment ordered Cavallo be kept in custody.
If convicted, Cavallo could be sentenced to four to 12 years in jail.
Cavallo, a Harvard-trained economist, and his supporters have denounced the charges as politically motivated, saying his detention was intended to distract attention from the country's economic crisis.
Cavallo served twice as economic minister. He won international acclaim during his first stint from 1991-96 when he stabilized the Argentine economy by pegging the peso one-to-one with the U.S. dollar - a move that wiped out hyperinflation.
He returned to office in 2001, joining the administration of former President Fernando De la Rua, who was forced from office Dec. 20 amid deadly street riots and days of supermarket looting.
His belt-tightening policies proved highly unpopular along with his decision to partially freeze bank accounts, forcing him to step down in December along with De la Rua.
04/10/02 21:38 EDT
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