ID:170714
    Date:2008-09-19 21:41:00
    Origin:08BUENOSAIRES1314
    Source:Embassy Buenos Aires
    Classification:CONFIDENTIAL
    Dunno:
    Destination:VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1314/01 2632141
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 192141Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2076
INFO RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

    
C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 001314 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2028 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KCRM, MARR, KCOR, SNAR, PHUM, AR 
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: ARMY CHIEF BENDINI, A KIRCHNER ALLY, 
RESIGNS ON RESURGENT CHARGE OF CORRUPTION; POZZI SELECTED 
AS NEW CHIEF 
 
Classified By: Charge de Affaires a.i. Tom Kelly.  Reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d) 
 
1. (C) Summary: Argentina's Cabinet Chief Sergio Massa 
announced late on September 18 that General Bendini, Army 
Chief of Staff for the past five years, had resigned.  The 
resignation and its acceptance by the President followed by 
only hours the decision of a Federal Appeals Court in 
Comodoro Rivadavia to proceed with charges against Bendini 
for the improper diversion of funds under his 2002 command of 
the Eleventh Brigade in Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz (Nestor 
Kirchner's home town).  Bendini was promoted over more senior 
generals by then President Nestor Kirchner in 2003 and had 
enjoyed the backing of the Kirchners despite Defense Minister 
Garre's apparent lack of confidence in him.  President 
Fernandez de Kirchner moved quickly this time once the 
indictment emerged.  Major General Luis Alberto Pozzi, 
previously the Vice Chief for the Army, was announced 
September 19 as the new Army Chief of Staff.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) General Roberto Bendini offered his resignation in 
writing to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on 
September 18 following an announcement by the Federal Chamber 
of Comodora Rivadavia over-ruling Investigative Judge Gerardo 
Caamano's 2007 decision that the charges lacked enough merit 
to proceed.  Bendini was indicted on charges of "peculado," a 
charge of illegally diverting government monies for personal 
use.  Bendini is said to have operated a "parallel" bank 
account in which he managed up to 500,000 pesos (over USD 
170,000) of official money obligated for the Mechanized 
Brigade under his command in 2002-2003.  The account at a 
commercial bank was utilized without appropriate oversight 
and accountability mechanisms, leading the judges 
constituting the Federal Chamber (equivalent to a three-judge 
appeals panel/court) to conclude that at a minimum Bendini 
likely used the funds for purposes for which they were not 
authorized.  "Even when one cannot establish personal 
enrichment (by Bendini)," said the judges, the law was clear 
that it was a crime to utilize monies in ways not clearly 
authorized by the government.  Bendini is charged but not 
detained; the charges carry a maximum sentence of ten years 
in prison.  Minister of Defense Nilda Garre's relations with 
Bendini have long been strained and distant.  She was in 
Chile at the time of Bendini's firing but was undoubtedly 
supportive of the president's decision to jettison him. 
President Kirchner's Chief of Staff Sergio Massa made the 
announcement in a brief evening press conference. 
 
A Long Deferred Day in Court 
---------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Bendini was appointed in 2003 by recently 
inaugurated President Nestor Kirchner.  Kirchner had known 
the General well from Santa Cruz Province, where Kirchner was 
governor before winning the Presidency.  Bendini had also 
positioned himself as a follower of the left wing of the 
Peronist movement.  His appointment over a number of more 
senior generals forced resignations and created tensions 
within the military leadership, but Nestor Kirchner's strong 
and public backing of Bendini left him relatively untouchable 
during Kirchner's presidency.  Despite the relatively 
successful efforts of Minister of Defense Nilda Garre to 
exert her authority over the armed forces following her 2006 
appointment, she was unable to move against Bendini despite 
her own apparent low regard for and suspicions of the 
general.  The investigation against Bendini over the 
misdirection of funds in 2002 began in April 2003, and in 
2006 Investigative Judge Caamano attempted to shift the 
charges to a military court without success.  Caamano's 2007 
decision that the charges were without merit stalled the 
investigation for a year before the Appeals Court overruled 
him on September 18th. 
 
Another Round of Dismissals 
--------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) Bendini's resignation followed Garre's dismissal the 
previous day of another thirteen senior officers, including 
two senior generals, on charges of corruption in cases 
unrelated to Bendini's, her second mass firing in as many 
months. 
 
Opposition Pounces 
------------------ 
 
5. (C) Opposition Congressman universally supported Bendini's 
dismissal but charged it came too late - or that he should 
never have been appointed.  Center-right "Pro" party leader 
 
 
in the Chamber of Deputies, Federico Pinedo, noted that the 
Bendini case demonstrated the corrosive influence of 
cronyism, resulting in a system "that makes relationships 
with Nestor Kirchner more important than institutions."  A 
media commentator, Fernando Gonzales in Clarin, suggested 
that President Fernandez de Kirchner's swift reaction in 
(presumably) firing Bendini was a result of the Kirchner's 
eroded political power, something that had left the President 
with no margin for error.  Well-known political analyst 
Rosendo Fraga noted Bendini's direct relationship with Nestor 
Kirchner crony and Planning Minister Julio de Vido, 
implicitly linking him to the darker side of the Kirchners' 
finances. 
 
Pozzi Steps Up 
-------------- 
 
6. (SBU) The Government on September 19 announced that Army 
Vice Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Luis Alberto Pozzi 
will replace Bendini. 
 
7. (SBU) Bio Notes: A graduate of the Argentine National 
Military Academy in 1968, General Pozzi is a Signal Corps 
officer with an extensive technical background in 
communications systems and information technology.  He served 
in a variety of Signal Corps-related assignments at the 
tactical, operational and strategic levels.  Pozzi is a 
graduate of the Argentine Military Technical School with a 
special concentration in electronics, and he obtained a 
graduate-level degree in Aerospace Technology (with a 
specialty in satellites) from the National Technology 
University.  He also served as a professor of communications 
systems a the Military Technical School.  Pozzi is married to 
Liliana Comejo and has three children. 
 
Comment: Turmoil and Reform 
--------------------------- 
 
8. (C) Bendini's dismissal may be welcome news to senior army 
officers given his already extended stay on the job.  The 
broader trend of firings among top generals on grounds of 
corruption or irregularities, however, has created some 
turmoil as positions shift and officers wonder who might be 
next.  Without arriving at conclusions about the strength of 
the charges against the officers advanced in August and 
September, however, it does appear that Garre is taking 
seriously her charge to clean up and regularize military 
finance, all to the good. 
KELLY