ARGENTINA: CANDIDACIES FOR INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000210 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL AORC UNGA KUNR AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: CANDIDACIES FOR INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE POSITIONS REFS: A) STATE 16118 B) STATE 16254 ¶1. (SBU) Poloff met February 25 with Secretary Christian Hotton of the Argentina Ministry of Foreign Relations' Directorate for International Organizations to discuss Argentine judge Ines Weinberg de Roca (per ref A),a candidate for the UN Appeals Tribunal, and U.S.-endorsed candidate Judge Mark P. Painter (ref B). Hotton offered the GOA's endorsement of Weinberg and noted she was one of only two Latin American candidates. ¶2. (SBU) Hotton said that Judge Weinberg had an excellent reputation in Argentina and noted her impressive breadth of Argentine judicial work and international experience (since 2003 with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda). She has served with distinction as a Federal Judge in Argentina (1993-2000) and on the Buenos Aires City Court of Appeals in Administrative Matters (from 2000, though on leave with ICTR since 2003). She has studied and lectured in many countries, including the United States, and has published extensively in Spanish and in English. ¶3. (SBU) The GOA has no information that reflects negatively on Judge Weinberg. ¶4. (SBU) Hotton welcomed our biographic material on Judge Painter and said that Argentina intended to determine its preferences based only on the qualifications of candidates. He said that Judge Painter's qualifications would be fully considered before the vote. WAYNE