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Obama will receive Cristina at the White House
Clarin
February 09, 2010

by Ana Baron

In the last few days a rumor began to spread around Washington: "Obama will receive Cristina Kirchner in the White House in April, during the nuclear security summit to which she was especially invited by the U.S. government." While nothing is officially confirmed yet, there is a factor that objectively favors the first bilateral encounter between them. Argentina is very well positioned in Washington in relation to the nuclear issue. At the State Department the government's position on Iran is very appreciated, fundamentally the request of the international capture of various Iranians accused of organizing the attack against the AMIA, and the vote by Argentina against Iran in the UN on its nuclear program. One of the greatest fears in the State Department is Iran having nuclear weapons and putting them in the hands of terrorists.

The goal of the summit in April is to analize how to better coordinate a multilateral response to the nuclear threat. Forty countries have been invited. In this issue, Argentina is an even more reliable ally than Brazil. The meeting between Lula and the President of Iran, and its abstention in the UN vote created tensions with Washington.

The problem is that the bilateral turbulence generated by the visit by Assistant Secretary of State for hemispheric affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, last December still hasn't dissipated.

Cristina Kirchner decided not to receive Valenzuela. That gesture wasn't viewed well in Washington. And the statements that Valenzuela made exiting a meeting with business leaders, about the lack of legal security in Argentina, went badly in Buenos Aires. "This gentleman called Artur Valenzuela, had a lack of respect to come to Argentina and say that there was no legal security: it's regrettable," said Nestor Kirchner at the time. "The only legal insecurity was done by them," he added.

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