COUNTER-TERRORISM MINISTER BLAMES MISUNDERSTANDING

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000564 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2016 TAGS: PTER PREL USOAS AR SUBJECT: COUNTER-TERRORISM MINISTER BLAMES MISUNDERSTANDING - ARGENTINA WILL SUPPORT CICTE DECLARATION REF: STATE 31112 Classified By: AMB Lino Gutierrez, for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Visiting Desk Officer Gomez, accompanied by POLOFF and POL Intern, delivered (REFTEL) talking points on March 8 to Minister Gustavo Urrutia, Deputy Director of the Office of Counter Terrorism and Related Crimes. ¶2. (C) Regarding the Declaration of San Carlos, Urrutia said that Argentina does indeed support the Declaration language on the connection between terrorism and illicit transnational activity. He said the perception of Argentine opposition at the OAS must have been either a misunderstanding in the translation or a delegate who did not express himself adequately. He emphasized that terrorism is still very much considered by Argentina to be a criminal act and a threat to security and peace. ¶3. (C) However, Urrutia pointed out that he sees a danger in implying that there is necessarily a link between terrorism and other organized international crime (drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering). He said that both the origins and the end goals of these two kinds of activities are very different (drug trafficking for example seeks a profit, he said, whereas terrorism has political goals),and that while there may be connections in some cases, they are not necessarily one and the same. (Note: This opinion is consistent with the language in the draft. End note.) He expressed concern that international laws and norms created expressly to combat terrorism could spill over and be inappropriately applied to other forms of organized crime. GUTIERREZ