Opinion

27 years after the AMIA bombing: terrorism without answers

photo_camera amia-argentina-irán

Every 18 July, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) presents in different ways an act of remembrance for the victims of the biggest terrorist attack in the country. In these, relatives, friends and people close to the institution, gather not only to remember their loved ones: the search for justice and truth are the great links that keep the whole community united.

Since the early years of the investigation, the AMIA case has been a reflection of the political situation in the country that is still present today. The governments that followed the bombing have left their mark through their different involvements in the case. Investigations into possible cover-up networks, obstruction of national justice, manoeuvres linked to money laundering, among other illicit practices, have been at the heart of the AMIA affair.  

The uncertainty, secrecy and lack of answers to the different questions that overwhelm the victims and relatives of those who took part in the attack continue to widen the search for justice, making a case of terrorism that has not yet come to an end. 

Contextualisation of the attack

On 18 July 1994 at 9:53 a.m., a car crashed and exploded into the headquarters of the Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) located on Pasteur Street in the city of Buenos Aires, which was completely destroyed and which also affected other nearby buildings1. The terrorist attack killed 85 people and injured 300 others inside and outside the institution2. As part of the surprise factor that characterises this type of violent action, the AMIA explosion affected employees of the organisation, people who were carrying out a specific procedure inside the building, among others who were in the vicinity of the organisation.

The AMIA bombing marked a turning point in Argentina's political and social history, as well as in the security and intelligence structure and organisation of the country's different governmental entities. However, this was not the first time that the Jewish community had been the target of such an attack. On 17 March 1992, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was completely destroyed by a car bomb, killing 29 people and injuring 2423.

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Founded in 1894 by Jewish immigrants from different corners of European cities, the AMIA still functions today as a centre for the community, promoting and preserving the traditions of that religion, as well as a place of remembrance, memory and justice for the victims of the 1994 attack4.

The cover-up: the government of Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem served as president of Argentina from 1989 to 1999, a period of government that coincided with the AMIA bombings, and which was fraught with controversy and legal cases following his term in office5.

After the explosion of the institution, a series of investigations were carried out into the planning of the attacks, as well as the financing of the attacks and the people involved in their preparation. In these, it was discovered that there were a number of connections with individuals of Syrian origin in the country, which caught the attention of the investigators, since the president himself, the son of Syrian parents, maintained a number of important links with Syrians6

The cover-up of the case was one of the most significant events that framed Carlos Menem's presidency and was present throughout the AMIA investigations. His government, in collaboration with other officials of the country's justice system, was responsible for drawing up a cover-up plan that falsely accused a series of perpetrators and collaborators, such as former police officers from the province of Buenos Aires, who spent several years in prison7. This allowed the president and those linked to the events to remain off the radar of suspicion for a certain period of time, since in 2001 the first trials for the AMIA bombing took place, in which a series of samples were presented that proved the possible manipulation of information, destruction of evidence, financing of collaborators, etc8

In 2015, former president Carlos Menem was indicted in what is known as the second trial for the AMIA bombing on suspicion of hindering the investigation of the attacks with the so-called "Syrian trail". This accused Menem of having protected the Argentine businessman of Syrian origin, Alberto Kanoore Edul, a possible link to the president's family and responsible for planning the bombing9

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Carlos Menem's government was the starting point for the whole AMIA case to become a labyrinth with no way out and to distance the Argentine government as far as possible from the terrorist attack. His controversial statements and unrealistic promising speeches marked a fundamental stage in the history of the country's presidents. His death in February of this year leaves another mark without answers about the AMIA investigations and is a reflection of how the panorama seems to continue without finding a good destiny that culminates in justice and truth.

The "K's": the highs and lows of the investigation

After the government of Carlos Menem, the AMIA case became one of the main issues of each of the country's presidencies. The task of finding the suspects linked to the act, the planning and structure of the entire terrorist organisation, framed the various Argentine political leaders. 

However, since Néstor Kirchner's government, all the investigations linked to the situation have gone through different scenarios. In some cases, the possibility of passing resolutions that would lead to justice was brought closer at times, while in others, all suspects were removed from public knowledge of the case, something that is still visible today. 

Néstor Kirchner became President of the country in May 2003, defending the ideological postulates linked to the political centre-left of the Kirchnerist Movement, which would be recognised years later under the same name as the foundations of the governments of Néstor and later of Cristina, his wife10.

One of the milestones that marked his government in relation to the AMIA case was the creation of a special prosecutor's office to investigate the matter, known as the UFI-AMIA, under the direction of prosecutor Dr. Alberto Nisman12. After several years of investigation and information gathering in collaboration with the Argentine, US and Israeli intelligence services, he formally accused the Iranian government of having been involved in the planning of the AMIA attacks, as well as the Lebanese terrorist organisation Hezbollah of carrying them out, which has been financed economically and militarily for many years by the Persian government13 14

Likewise, in 2005, Nisman and Burgos, both prosecutors, recognised a new suspect of Lebanese origin who could have been the driver of the car that exploded at the AMIA headquarters: Ibrahim Hussein Berro 15 16. However, this hypothesis was rejected after a long and extensive DNA test linking human remains from the bombing and Berro's relatives, which were commissioned in 2005 and did not yield results until 201717 18

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The figure of Nisman in the AMIA case is key and would mark both Kirchnerist governments. His progress in the investigations and his increasingly active involvement will open a window of hope for the recognition and clarification of the hidden issues of the previous term of office.

Two years later, President Néstor Kirchner publicly denounced Iran at the United Nations General Assembly for its failure to cooperate in the search for clarification and answers about the AMIA bombing19. This event marked a new cycle in the framework of the investigations, as it seemed to indicate that the Argentine government was committed to the Jewish community, the victims and the country's population in the search for the suspects without any kind of cover-up, as Menem's government had presented it. 

The history of the investigations would begin to have its grey and controversial shades with the coming to power of former president Kirchner's wife, Cristina Fernández. During her term in office, Cristina continued with her predecessor's political line and economic and social measures, but conflicts with different national organisations and entities generated a tense and controversial climate in which the AMIA case also appeared20.

On 27 January 2013 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Iranian and Argentine foreign ministers met to sign the controversial 'Argentina-Iran Memorandum of Understanding' on behalf of the governments of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cristina Fernández21. The text is another of the determining elements of the entire trajectory and evolution of the AMIA investigations, as well as for the Fernández government. The aim of the agreement was to lay the groundwork for investigating the AMIA bombing in cooperation with the Persian government, which, until now, had been under suspicion by the main investigators of the case22

However, a month after the agreement was signed, the South American country's Chamber of Deputies passed the memorandum into national law, generating a tense and charged atmosphere in which the Jewish community and those individuals opposed to Fernández's government took aim at the president, accusing her of having signed the memorandum in order to cover up for those possibly responsible for the bombing23. At the same time, they described it as unconstitutional and an instrument that slowed down the evolution of the investigation into the case, something similar to what had happened under the government of Carlos Menem. 

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As the prosecutor's investigations progressed and everything indicated that the evidence about the suspects and the planning of the attacks seemed to have an answer, on 14 January 2015, Nisman denounced President Fernández and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman for "negotiating a plan of impunity and covering up for the Iranian fugitives accused of the bombing of the Jewish Mutual". Such arguments would change the future of the investigations24. In the prosecutor's reports, he argued that the president and other members of her government appeared to have strong relations with people linked to the Iranian high command and that the whole purpose of the deal was to disassociate Iran from the bombing25. Four days after the accusation, on 18 January 2015, Alberto Nisman was found dead in the bathroom of his flat in Buenos Aires with a gunshot wound to the temple26

The prosecutor's death marked a slowdown in all the investigations that had been underway up to that point. All the information he had managed to recover and consolidate would be put on the back burner, as the doubts about the causes of his death drew the attention of most of the media, leaving the AMIA affair on the back burner. 

There are many who argue that Nisman's death was not a mere surprise and that it may be linked to all the work he had been carrying out up to that point, specifically against Cristina's government and her image.

The dark spots

Argentina's political history has been framed by a series of governments of different ideological shades, which in some way explain the country's economic and social irregularity. The various political figures that have passed through the national mandate have most of the time been on the edge of legality, as mentioned above, some of them linked to more than one case of illicit activities that put Argentina's democracy on the brink. To this day, the country does not seem to have found the stability that would place Argentina in a stable, strong and secure position.

The AMIA case and the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires are two catastrophic events that have left their mark on the country's history. Specifically, the attack against the Jewish association takes on greater relevance not only because of its proximity in time and the possible involvement of agents outside the geographical space. The lack of answers, the failed investigations, the cover-ups and the important collaborators who facilitated the violent action make it a dark spot in the nation's history. 

As the years and the various presidential mandates progress, the investigations continue to dominate the domestic and foreign policy sphere. With changes of government and with them, the ideological underpinnings of both the political left and the political right, the AMIA case swings depending on the person who holds office as the country's highest representative and his or her degree of interest in the matter. This is not only an example of the current political situation in Argentina, but also one of the reasons why the case is increasingly slowing down and does not seem to be coming to a successful conclusion.

Twenty-seven years later, there is still no clear perpetrator serving a prison sentence, nor are there any answers to the numerical questions that mainly affect those who lost a family member, a friend or simply an acquaintance at the hands of violent extremism. 

Should the story continue in the same way in the future, the images of family, friends and those close to the AMIA events, holding up signs with the slogan "justice and memory", will continue to haunt the national media echoing the issue. 

Brian Blacher Ancis. Master in Prevention of Radicalisation. B.A. in International Studies. Contributor to Sec2Crime's Armed Conflict Area: https://www.sec2crime.com/blog/

Bibliographical references
  1. Atentado a la AMIA: 25 años en búsqueda de verdad y justiciar (2019, 17 de julio). DW. Recuperado de https://www.dw.com/es/atentado-a-la-amia-25-años-en-búsqueda-de-verdad-y-justicia/a-49624883 
  2. El día en que la comunidad judía en Argentina sufrió su peor atentado (2017, 18 de julio). El País. Recuperado de https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/07/18/actualidad/1500367646_031701.html 
  3. Ibídem
  4. Misión, visión y valores. AMIA. Recuperado de https://www.amia.org.ar 
  5. McFadden, R. (2021, 16 de febrero). Carlos Saúl Menem, el presidente que dirigió a Argentina durante una era turbulenta, murió a los 90 años. The New York Times. Recuperado de  https://www.nytimes.com/es/2021/02/16/espanol/carlos-menem-argentina.html
  6. Carlos Menem: las dos traiciones (2021, 16 de marzo). Revista Crisis. Recuperado de https://www.revistacrisis.com/debate-global/carlos-menem-las-dos-traiciones
  7. Smink, V. (2019, 18 de julio). 25 años del caso AMIA: por qué ni un solo sospechoso ha sido arrestado o juzgado por el peor atentado en la historia de Argentina (y por qué dos presidentes han sido acusados de encubrirlo). BBC News. Recuperado de https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-49021713
  8. Ortiz de Zárate, R. (2021, 15 de febrero). Ficha Carlos Menem. CIDOB. Recuperado de https://www.cidob.org/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_del_sur/argentina/carlos_menem
  9. Bullentini, A. (2019, 28 de febrero). Carlos Menem y la “pista siria”. Página 12. Recuperado de https://www.pagina12.com.ar/177876-carlos-menem-y-la-pista-siria
  10. Moreira, C., Barbosa, S. (2010). El kirchnerismo en Argentina: origen, apogeo y crisis, su construcción de poder y forma de gobernar. Sociedade e Cultura, (2), 193-200. Recuperado de https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/703/70316920005.pdf
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  12. UFIAMA. Ministerio Público Fiscal. Recuperado de https://www.mpf.gob.ar/ufiamia/
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  15. Estudio de ADN a Hussein Berro (2005, 10 de noviembre). La Nación. Recuperado de https://www.lanacion.com.ar/sociedad/estudio-de-adn-a-hussein-berro-nid755063/ 
  16. Caso AMIA: los fiscales dicen haber identificado al autor del atentado (2005, 10 de noviembre). Clarín. Recuperado de https://www.clarin.com/ediciones-anteriores/caso-amia-fiscales-dicen-identificado-autor-atentado_0_H11WIkwJAtx.html 
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  24. Cappiello, H. (2015, 14 de enero). Denuncian a Cristina Kirchner y a Héctor Timerman por encubrir a Irán en el atentado a la AMIA. La Nación. Recuperado de https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/denuncian-a-cristina-kirchner-y-a-hector-timerman-por-encubrir-a-iran-en-el-atentado-a-la-amia-nid1760001/
  25. Ibídem
  26. Mur, R. (2020, 18 de enero). Un documental revive el misterio sobre la muerte del fiscal Nisman. La Vanguardia. Recuperado de https://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20200118/472937575190/muerte-fiscal-nisman-argentina-documental.html