New Bill Could Sanction Argentine Officials
A new Republican-backed bill in the Senate and House could lead to U.S. sanctions against senior Argentine government officials. The bill, led in the Senate by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and in the House by Rep. Maria Salazar of Florida, would require the president to investigate five Argentine officials for corruption: Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner; her son, former lawmaker Maximo Kirchner; Vice Minister of Justice Juan Martin Mena; Sen. Oscar Isidro Jose Parrilli; and Carlos Alberto Zannini, the Argentina Treasury's lead prosecutor. If the president determines they “meet the criteria for corruption sanctions, the bill mandates the imposition of those sanctions,” according to Cruz’s news release.
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Cruz said Argentina's vice president is a “deeply corrupt politician,” and Salazar said she and her “inner circle are some of Latin America’s most prolific embezzlers of public funds. It is time the United States take action against their unchecked abuse of power, which has resulted in theft and loss of billions of dollars belonging to the Argentinian people.”