Argentine Ambassador Arnaldo T. Musich virtually apologized today for the anti-Semitic acts of violence in Buenos Aires and the distribution in Argentina of Nazi publications. Speaking with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency through the Embassy’s chief media officer, first secretary Hernan Massini-Ezcurra, the Ambassador said:
“I am very sorry for the events (bombings and shootings) and I hope they won’t occur again. We are trying to arrest people responsible, but as of now, I have no information on these arrests. We are trying to stop distribution of all publications that provoke these kinds of acts.”
Both Musich and Massini-Ezcurra are recent arrivals in Washington, the Ambassador having taken up his duties six weeks ago and the media envoy about two weeks earlier. Massini-Ezcurra, a diplomat for 11 years, said that “we know the impact of these events are important abroad” and that the “Jewish community is very very important.”
SAYS EVENTS ARE ISOLATED
While deploring the outrages, Massini-Ezcurra characterized them as “completely isolated events” and claimed that the Argentine Jewish community was “not very worried about this.”
The media officer, who was asked by JTA for a statement on the violence against Jews in his country, said that the violence and publications were attempts to “move international opinion against Argentina.” He pointed out that they affected “the sensibility of Jewish communities in other countries which could be moved against the Argentine government.”
Discussing the Buenos Aires community he which he described as “very very good,” and Bernardo Braunzsfein. Under-Secretary of Energy, who was in Washington a week ago for negotiations with the World Bank on financing construction of an electric plant in Buenos Aires.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
