The Ministry of Justice received on Tuesday the request for collaboration from the United States Department of Justice claiming the seizure of the Emtrasur Jumbo that arrived in Argentina on June 6. From the portfolio headed by Martín Soria, they sent the document to the judge of Lomas de Zamora, Federico Villena, on Wednesday morning, because the magistrate retains the apparatus and, furthermore, he is the judge on duty. The issue is not only judicial, but political: the United States maintains that the sale of the Iranian Mahan Air Jumbo to the Venezuelan Conviasa –Emtrasur is Conviasa’s cargo company– violated the embargo ordered by Washington once morest that airline and once morest Iran. , given that Mahan -according to Washington- made flights to take war material to the Al Quds Revolutionary Guard, which is a branch of the Iranian army.
The plane itself does not represent a great value: it is a 1988 model of which only five units operate worldwide, since it is not viable except for countries that have fuel at extremely low prices, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. But it raises a serious political question for Argentina, not only with Iran but mainly with Caracas: it will have to decide whether Argentina will apply a blockade or US trade rules.
The case that is being processed in Lomas de Zamora has two different aspects. First of all, the crew. Villena authorized the departure of 12 of the 19 from the country, but ordered three Venezuelans and four Iranians to remain in Argentina. He considers that it is necessary to continue investigating if the flight to Argentina concealed any espionage or terrorism operation. To determine this, he awaits translations of the chats between the Iranians and reports from the United States, Paraguay and Uruguay.
In this field, Emtrasur’s lawyers will present the appeal before this Friday and, for the first time, the file will reach the Federal Chamber of La Plata. We will have to see what the cameramen say before people who are held without any accusation. The crew members were not charged with any crime.
On another cable car, the issue of the plane is taking place. In Caracas they have a conspiratorial view of what happened and they think that in Argentina the entire process was delayed for the North American request to arrive. The Venezuelan gaze will be political, not just judicial.
In fact, what happened is that the United States Department of Justice told the Argentine Ministry of Justice that there would be a warrant from an American judge from Maryland addressed to the Argentine judge, Villena. In that communication they will require the magistrate to comply with the US decision, to hijack the plane and seize it with a view to auctioning it off at some point.
Page 12 agreed to the original document, in English, that supports the request. The facts that are summarized in the conflict are the following:
- The Boeing 747 was produced in the United States, although the manufacturing company sold it to Air France.
- The French airline sold it at the time to Iran.
- In 2008, Washington established that Mahan Air, the Iranian airline, was a collaborator with the Air Quds Brigades. Therefore, it imposed a block according to which authorization had to be requested for any transaction with Mahan Air. That authorization had to be issued by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
- Therefore, the United States objects to the sale of the Mahan Jumbo to Conviasa, the Venezuelan airline that has Emtrasur as a subsidiary.
- Not only does he question the plane transaction, but also all of his flights. And, in addition, the document maintains that authorization must be requested from the BIS even to buy the spare parts.
- In short, all transactions violate US trade regulations. What translated into the colloquial language means that what was violated is the blockade.
- Logic indicates that Villena will ask Incardona for an opinion and begin a judicial back and forth. There is an issue that will be at the center of what is resolved: there is a judicial collaboration treaty between the United States and Argentina. An evaluation will be needed if the North American request exceeds or not the terms of that treaty, something that invades the political terrain:
- Is Argentina obliged to comply with North American blockades-trade regulations? In addition, how much does Argentina not declare the Al Quds Guard as a terrorist force in this blockade?
- How does the fact that the plane is Venezuelan and not Iranian play into this? Even the United States admits that the sale took place. For Argentina it is evident that the conflict is with Caracas, not with Tehran.
- According to all the sources linked to the aviation industry, the device itself is not of the highest value: nowadays nobody wants it. It is old -from 1988-, with very high costs and very difficult to obtain spare parts. It is only used by countries with very low fuel prices and there are only five active units worldwide. Saudi Arabia, for example, has a 747 of this model that it uses as a substitute plane for the one that mobilizes the king or princes. However, the aircraft has strong political symbolism.
For now, things are on the court, but sooner or later the Jumbo will become an issue in which relations with the United States, Venezuela and Iran will come into play.