Latest news with #UniónporlaPatria
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
An Iranian official was fired over his 'lavish' Argentina trip. Argentines are angry, too
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Furious that an Iranian official had entered Argentina as an ordinary citizen on a tourist visa, Argentine lawmakers this week attacked the nation's spy agency. They asked the government to investigate the Iranian deputy's vacation in Argentina, a country where several other Iranian politicians still stand accused of carrying out deadly bombings in Buenos Aires in the 1990s. Tehran denies the accusations. 'The intelligence agency allowed a vice-president of Iran to enter our country, it's terrible,' Florencia Carignano, a lawmaker from hardline opposition Peronist bloc, Unión por la Patria, told fellow legislators Tuesday on the foreign relations committee. 'I am seriously worried.' She paused for a beat, then exclaimed, 'Iran!' The heated discussion in Argentina's Congress marks the latest fallout from the luxury vacation that Shahram Dabiri and his wife took earlier this year. Dabiri had served as vice president of parliamentary affairs in Iran before being fired last week over the trip in Argentina, which Iran's president criticized as 'lavish' and 'indefensible." Although Dabiri reportedly paid for the trip with his own money, several Instagram photos that showed him and his wife boarding an expensive cruise from southern Argentina to Antarctica and posing in what appears to be an opulent cathedral angered Iranians struggling to scrape by in the sanctions-hit economy. Argentines were also angered by Dabiri's trip, for a different reason. The South American country remains deeply traumatized by the bombing attacks against the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 respectively, which killed over 100 people. Despite probes marred by corruption and delays over the past three decades, Argentine prosecutors have long maintained that Iranian operatives and senior officials played key roles in the attacks. Argentina believes that Iran is shielding in the high echelons of its political establishment various people accused of having authorized the attack, including former Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi. Any incident involving Iranians in Argentina can quickly snowball into a crisis. Last year, for instance, Argentina grounded a Venezuelan-owned cargo jet and detained its Iranian crew members for an investigation into possible terrorism ties before releasing them for lack of evidence. Carignano, the left-leaning lawmaker on the parliamentary foreign affairs committee who previously served as an immigration minister, announced that she'd learned that Dabiri had not properly declared himself as a government official in his visa application. She said that he had applied for a tourist visa, identifying himself only as a doctor. There was no immediate response from Argentina's foreign ministry. The Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran's Tabriz University of Medical Sciences describes Dabiri as a physician and professor of nuclear medicine on its website. Two other lawmakers on Tuesday backed Carignano's order for a government inquiry into Dabiri's roughly two-week vacation. They asked how he'd managed to travel on a tourist visa and why the country's intelligence agency reportedly had not alerted immigration authorities to his entry. 'What happened? That's what we want to know," Carignano wrote on social media Wednesday.
Washington Post
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
An Iranian official was fired over his 'lavish' Argentina trip. Argentines are angry, too
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Furious that an Iranian official had entered Argentina as an ordinary citizen on a tourist visa, Argentine lawmakers this week attacked the nation's spy agency. They asked the government to investigate the Iranian deputy's vacation in Argentina, a country where several other Iranian politicians still stand accused of carrying out deadly bombings in Buenos Aires in the 1990s. Tehran denies the accusations. 'The intelligence agency allowed a vice-president of Iran to enter our country, it's terrible,' Florencia Carignano, a lawmaker from hardline opposition Peronist bloc, Unión por la Patria, told fellow legislators Tuesday on the foreign relations committee. 'I am seriously worried.' She paused for a beat, then exclaimed, 'Iran!' The heated discussion in Argentina's Congress marks the latest fallout from the luxury vacation that Shahram Dabiri and his wife took earlier this year. Dabiri had served as vice president of parliamentary affairs in Iran before being fired last week over the trip in Argentina, which Iran's president criticized as 'lavish' and 'indefensible.' Although Dabiri reportedly paid for the trip with his own money, several Instagram photos that showed him and his wife boarding an expensive cruise from southern Argentina to Antarctica and posing in what appears to be an opulent cathedral angered Iranians struggling to scrape by in the sanctions-hit economy. Argentines were also angered by Dabiri's trip, for a different reason. The South American country remains deeply traumatized by the bombing attacks against the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 respectively, which killed over 100 people. Despite probes marred by corruption and delays over the past three decades , Argentine prosecutors have long maintained that Iranian operatives and senior officials played key roles in the attacks . Argentina believes that Iran is shielding in the high echelons of its political establishment various people accused of having authorized the attack, including former Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi. Any incident involving Iranians in Argentina can quickly snowball into a crisis. Last year, for instance, Argentina grounded a Venezuelan-owned cargo jet and detained its Iranian crew members for an investigation into possible terrorism ties before releasing them for lack of evidence. Carignano, the left-leaning lawmaker on the parliamentary foreign affairs committee who previously served as an immigration minister, announced that she'd learned that Dabiri had not properly declared himself as a government official in his visa application. She said that he had applied for a tourist visa, identifying himself only as a doctor. There was no immediate response from Argentina's foreign ministry. The Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran's Tabriz University of Medical Sciences describes Dabiri as a physician and professor of nuclear medicine on its website. Two other lawmakers on Tuesday backed Carignano's order for a government inquiry into Dabiri's roughly two-week vacation. They asked how he'd managed to travel on a tourist visa and why the country's intelligence agency reportedly had not alerted immigration authorities to his entry. 'What happened? That's what we want to know,' Carignano wrote on social media Wednesday.
Associated Press
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
An Iranian official was fired over his ‘lavish' Argentina trip. Argentines are angry, too
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Furious that an Iranian official had entered Argentina as an ordinary citizen on a tourist visa, Argentine lawmakers this week attacked the nation's spy agency. They asked the government to investigate the Iranian deputy's vacation in Argentina, a country where several other Iranian politicians still stand accused of carrying out deadly bombings in Buenos Aires in the 1990s. Tehran denies the accusations. 'The intelligence agency allowed a vice-president of Iran to enter our country, it's terrible,' Florencia Carignano, a lawmaker from hardline opposition Peronist bloc, Unión por la Patria, told fellow legislators Tuesday on the foreign relations committee. 'I am seriously worried.' She paused for a beat, then exclaimed, 'Iran!' The heated discussion in Argentina's Congress marks the latest fallout from the luxury vacation that Shahram Dabiri and his wife took earlier this year. Dabiri had served as vice president of parliamentary affairs in Iran before being fired last week over the trip in Argentina, which Iran's president criticized as 'lavish' and 'indefensible.' Although Dabiri reportedly paid for the trip with his own money, several Instagram photos that showed him and his wife boarding an expensive cruise from southern Argentina to Antarctica and posing in what appears to be an opulent cathedral angered Iranians struggling to scrape by in the sanctions-hit economy. Argentines were also angered by Dabiri's trip, for a different reason. The South American country remains deeply traumatized by the bombing attacks against the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 respectively, which killed over 100 people. Despite probes marred by corruption and delays over the past three decades, Argentine prosecutors have long maintained that Iranian operatives and senior officials played key roles in the attacks. Argentina believes that Iran is shielding in the high echelons of its political establishment various people accused of having authorized the attack, including former Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi. Any incident involving Iranians in Argentina can quickly snowball into a crisis. Last year, for instance, Argentina grounded a Venezuelan-owned cargo jet and detained its Iranian crew members for an investigation into possible terrorism ties before releasing them for lack of evidence. Carignano, the left-leaning lawmaker on the parliamentary foreign affairs committee who previously served as an immigration minister, announced that she'd learned that Dabiri had not properly declared himself as a government official in his visa application. She said that he had applied for a tourist visa, identifying himself only as a doctor. There was no immediate response from Argentina's foreign ministry. The Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran's Tabriz University of Medical Sciences describes Dabiri as a physician and professor of nuclear medicine on its website. Two other lawmakers on Tuesday backed Carignano's order for a government inquiry into Dabiri's roughly two-week vacation. They asked how he'd managed to travel on a tourist visa and why the country's intelligence agency reportedly had not alerted immigration authorities to his entry. 'What happened? That's what we want to know,' Carignano wrote on social media Wednesday.
Washington Post
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Argentine senate rejects President Milei's Supreme Court appointees in blow to libertarian leader
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina's senate on Thursday rejected the two Supreme Court candidates that President Javier Milei nominated by decree earlier this year , dealing a major blow to the libertarian leader. The congressional defeat could complicate the implementation of Milei's radical state overhaul of Argentina, as analysts say the president had hoped to fill the Supreme Court vacancies with appointees who would rule favorably on challenges to his economic reforms. Milei in February bypassed Congress to appoint two controversial Supreme Court candidates, invoking a clause in Argentina's constitution that he said empowered him to fill the vacant seats during the legislature's summer recess. Politicians sharply criticized the move as an overreach of executive power, saying that a president has extremely limited authority to make judicial appointments during a congressional break. 'It's a serious institutional conflict that the executive branch has initiated against the legislative and judicial branches,' said Sen. Anabel Fernández Sagasti from Unión por la Patria party, the hardline opposition bloc. 'What we are discussing is an institutional assault.' Both of Milei's candidates — federal judge Ariel Lijo and conservative law professor Manuel García-Mansilla — had failed last year to secure the two-thirds majority required to confirm the candidates in the senate, where the president's libertarian coalition holds just seven of the 72 seats. Milei resorted to presidential decree to fill the two vacant seats on the five-judge court, testing the boundaries of his executive power as he has repeatedly done over the past year to overcome his minority in Congress. His nominees have provoked fierce debate across the political spectrum. Lijo has drawn criticism from anti-corruption watchdogs and opposition from centrist parties scandalized by allegations that he laundered money, abused judicial authority and stalled graft cases assigned to him in federal court. Lijo has denied the accusations. During the hours-long debate over the candidates on the senate floor Thursday, centrist lawmaker Luis Juez referred to Lijo by the name of a famous Argentine hypnotist, saying, 'I call him that because he'll put your judicial case to sleep if it suits political powers.' García-Mansilla has faced resistance from the left-leaning Peronist opposition movement, which holds 45% of seats in the senate, for his conservative stance on social issues like abortion. Milei has fiercely defended his candidates as worthy of serving on the nation's highest court and accused lawmakers of unfairly politicizing his nominations. In a statement late Thursday, Milei's office said it 'repudiated' the senate vote. 'The senate has rejected nominations proposed by the president for purely political reasons and not for reasons of suitability,' it said, arguing that leaving the two seats empty on the court constituted an effort to obstruct justice. It said Milei would seek to 'restore people's confidence in the institutions using all the tools that the constitution and popular vote have placed in his hands.' Others breathed a sigh of relief at what they saw as a sign of Argentina's democracy working. 'Today the Argentine Senate put a stop to one of the most serious attacks on judicial independence since the country's return to democracy,' said Juan Pappier, deputy director of the Americas at Human Rights Watch. 'President Milei risked undermining some the very basic checks and balances of Argentina's democratic system.'
