Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment on Sunday, January 18. That’s about the only thing people can agree on and about the only fact that hasn’t changed over the past week.
Paleo wrote a great post about this and you can read it here.
First, the government said his death was a suicide. Then, when an autopsy indicated that there was no gunshot residue on the victim, the government said it was murder. When Argentine’s went to the streets openly calling (President) Kirchner an assassin, she changed her tune and went to Facebook.
First, the “Policia Federales” said the apartment door was locked — from the inside. Then, a locksmith named Walter said it wasn’t locked, there was just another key in the keyhole on the inside of the door.
First, investigators said there were only two doors into the apartment; the main door and a service entrance. Then investigators “mysteriously found” a third door.
First, there were ten “Policia Federales” assigned to protect Nisman, then they called his mother to let them into the apartment.
For anyone, with even a remote grasp of reality, this scenario plays out like a bad Pink Panther movie. This is Argentina though. The facts have nothing to do with reality and reality is a vague wisp that changes shape and morphs depending on the latest needs of the politicians.
Over a week before Nisman was to announce his sealed findings to “Congresso,” I wrote a piece for Stack Streets that eerily forecast the very things that Nisman's 300 page report, since released, said.
The Players
Cristina Kirchner
Better known locally as CFK, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has been President of Argentina since 2007. Her husband, Nestor, was also her predecessor.
CFK, whose policies could have come straight from the playbook written for banana republics, is known for two things: her corruption and her wackiness, both are well documented.
In 2012, Jorge Lanata, kind of an Argentine version of Walter Cronkite, did an investigative series about Kirchner's stealing from the public coffers. Lanata documented on television how Kirchner flies millions of dollars out of the country each week and stashes them away in secret bank accounts from the Caribbean to Switzerland. He also followed the money trail which led straight from a builder in Patagonia to the Pink House.
The typical Argentine’s response? “That’s Cristina!”
Her wackiness is well known and there are too many examples to mention. Be resourceful. Google “Cristina Kirchner near wacky”. When I did it I came up with over 48,000 results. Since there are way too many to examine, let’s be satisfied with just one.
When ISIS was first making the daily news cycle in 2013, CFK went on national television to let folks know that she had been threatened and if something should happen to her that investigators need to check out what ISIS has been up to.
As that didn’t get the attention she needed, a week later she returned to the airwaves and pointed the finger at Obama telling her viewing audience that she was wrong about ISIS, the real threat is from the USA.
When that too failed to get the attention she craves, she disappeared into a hospital for one of her annual hysterical fits of “something is wrong with me.”
CFK has been losing touch with reality for the past two years. Lately, it seems her slide into unicorns, rainbows and funhouse mirrors has increased in velocity.
Images of the anti-government protest by Jerry Nelson
Alberto Nisman
Nisman , 51, was the prosecutor looking into the 1992 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires. Appointed by Nestor Kirchner, who was growing weary of all the hype and speculation behind the bombing, appointed Nisman to investigate.
Ten years later, Nisman’s investigation was over. The Wednesday before he died, Nisman announced in a news conference that his investigation was complete and he would be presenting his results to “Congresso” the following Monday morning.
Later, the same day and following days, Nisman was interviewed several times and each time said that his findings pointed to a government conspiracy to cover up the bombings.
Nisman was found dead in his swanky apartment in swanky Puerto Madero, the upscale barrio in Buenos Aires where politicians and corporate heads live. Puerto Madero is also the barrio where 95 percent of the tourists stay when they come to town and they spend 95 percent of their time without wandering far from the steel and concrete towers in the barrio that looks more like Manhattan than it does Buenos Aires.
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero is the swanky part of Buenos Aires. Its concrete, steel and glass towers reminds many visitors more of Manhattan than Buenos Aires. It’s also the destination of choice for 95 percent of the tourists who spend 95 percent of their time within the slice of city that resembles America more than it does Argentina.
Other than a quick visit to Recoleta to see Eva “Evita” Peron’s tomb, naivle tourists from Bugtussle, Iowa eat grass-fed beef, drink mate and watch the Tango dancers perform on the boardwalk in Puerto Madero. Then they return home and breathlessly tell their admiring friends and family that they have “seen” Argentina.
The disconnect between the real Argentina and Puerto Madero is somehow a good symbol of the disconnect between reality and the Argentine government’s view of reality.
Security
Nisman was guarded around the clock by 10 “Policia Federales.” The word ‘guarded’ is used loosely and should be taken with a giant grain of salt.
The Policia Federales are known to be among the most corrupt law enforcement officers globally. Most of them would be willing to turn in their mother for a few pesos — so you can imagine what they would be willing to do for the promise of a few million.
Not happy with just being corrupt, they are inept and inefficient. When the officers tasked with guarding Nisman failed to hear from him all day Saturday and Sunday, they crashed through the door of Nisman's apartment, guns drawn, ready to fight to the death anyone they found inside.
Well, it didn’t happen that way.
After over twenty-four hours of not hearing from the man they were paid to protect, they, wait for it, called his mother.
Mom arrived with a spare key, but couldn’t get the door open. Claiming the door was locked and Nisman’s key was still in the lock on the inside, the Policia Federales, and Mom, put their shoulders to the door and forced it open. Right? No.
They called the locksmith, Walter.
Walter
Walter, a friendly, balding man, who appears to be in his early fifties, came right over. Unpacking his tools, he went to work. Taking a wire from his toolbox, Walter knelt down, stuck the wire through the “locked” door and pushed the key out. Standing up, Walter turned the knob and the door opened.
Later, speaking to reporters, Walter said that it took longer to unpack his tools than it did to “unlock” the door.
Today in Argentina the news is still Nisman and his murder. Talking heads eat up air time and the government spokesmen vacillate on their story depending on which way the political winds are blowing.
Will the truth ever be known? It already is, by someone. But it won't be long before a naive American reads this and says, "Yes, it looks suspicious -- but without knowing more, I'd hesitate to jump to conclusions."
Will the truth ever come out? This is Argentina, remember.