Argentina said Friday it expected another "negative" hearing before the US judge whose rulings in the country's battle with creditors have prompted Buenos Aires to sue Washington at The Hague. US District Judge Thomas Griesa called the afternoon hearing in New York to discuss Argentina's "recent statements" after it sought to haul the United States before the International Court of Justice over the messy legal dispute that has forced Buenos Aires into default.
The Hague-based court, which will only hear the case in the unlikely event that Washington accepts its jurisdiction, said Argentina accused the US of violating its sovereignty by failing to rein in Griesa, who has blocked Buenos Aires from servicing its restructured debt until it settles its dispute with two American hedge funds.
Argentine cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich, who has repeatedly condemned Griesa as biased and incompetent, said he expected more of the same from Friday's hearing. "The successive hearings are absolutely negative because Judge Griesa doesn't understand this process and the status of a sovereign country," he told journalists in Buenos Aires. Griesa has blocked Argentina from making interest payments to bondholders who accepted a massive write-down after the country's 2001 financial crisis until it pays the so-called "holdouts" the full $1.3 billion it owes them.
But Argentina says yielding to the hedge funds - which it calls "vultures" - could expose it to more than $100 billion in claims for equal treatment from other creditors. On Thursday, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said her counterpart Barack Obama could resolve the standoff by invoking his executive authority. Kirchner quoted a blog post on the website of British newspaper The Guardian suggesting Obama could overrule Griesa by invoking the US Constitution's separation of powers clause.
"I didn't know this presidential authority existed," Kirchner said, urging Obama to intervene directly or else let the ICJ hear Argentina's case. In a nationally broadcast address, Kirchner also announced a series of measures aimed at rebooting the recession-hit economy, including state funding for bus manufacturers, renewed incentives for the construction and real estate sectors, and an increase in unemployment benefits for young workers who sign up for job training.
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