Alberto Nisman: death in Argentina
Prior to today I hadn’t followed the rumors about the death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, but recent developments in the case are very alarming: first reported as a suicide, it appears it was far more likely to have been murder, and not any ordinary murder. Nisman was killed on the eve of giving testimony “regarding his government’s complicity with Iran to suppress the investigation of the 1994 Jewish community center bombing.”
That government, headed by President Cristina Ferné¡ndez de Kirchner (one of those implicated in the suppression of the bombing evidence), initially brushed Nisman’s death off as suicide. Now she’s singing a different tune, one of persecution—of Cristina Kirchner, who is now suggesting “that the prosecutor’s death was part of what she hinted was a sinister plot to defame and destroy her.”
Well, I suppose it’s possible that someone other than Kirchner killed him—after all, there’s no lack of other people and other countries who must have wanted him dead—chief among them, other officials in Argentina and much of the leadership of Iran, who had apparently been in cahoots in planning a coverup about the JCC bombing’s source:
…[T]he intercepted telephone conversations [Nisman] described before his death outline an elaborate effort to reward Argentina for shipping food to Iran ”” and for seeking to derail the investigation into a terrorist attack in the Argentine capital that killed 85 people.
Argentine prosecutors suspect Iran of shielding guilty parties in the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
The deal never materialized, the complaint says, in part because Argentine officials failed to persuade Interpol to lift the arrest warrants against Iranian officials wanted in Argentina in connection with the attack.
There’s another good post about it all at Legal Insurrection, and Fausta has a lot of information, too (see also this). The LI post and Fausta both point out an interesting fact, which is that it’s been reported that Nisman’s 10-person security guard was mysteriously absent that day.
At this point I’d say there’s about a zero-percent chance that Alberto Nisman committed suicide.
“At this point I’d say there’s about a zero-percent chance that Alberto Nisman committed suicide.”
There’s probably the same percentage of chance that anyone will ever be brought to justice for it as well.
Why the Argentine people can’t seem to elect a government that reflects their values is beyond me….but then again maybe they have.
I may be hallucinating, or at least suffering from Oversurfing Syndrome, but I’ve been following this story and I swear I saw a story a few days ago connecting Nisman’s murder and a mysterious fire that destroyed a mansion — somewhere in the vicinity of DC, I think — and killed 4 members of a family — two grandparents and two grandchildren. The parents were absent at the time. The grandfather had some legal connection to Nisman which roused the suspicion of the journalist. This is very vague, I know, but did anyone else see this?
skeneogden
Yes, they have. The “vivo,” someone who cons his way into getting something for nothing, is an Argentine cultural icon. Peronismo, currently headed by Evita III, is the personification of that.
Such as fudging inflation data for years, and threatening to prosecute economists who publish data to contradict the government’s fudged inflation data.
At the same time, bear in mind that Evita III hasn’t won elections by landslides. Buenos Aires votes against Peronismo. At one time Argentina had an oppo legislature.
From the NYT: In a Reversal, Argentine President Says Prosecutor’s Death Was Not a Suicide.
By Evita III’s definition, that which would expose the machinations of her government constitutes “a sinister plot to defame and destroy her.”
Putin does favors for lackys…
given the advanced expertise they have used world wide and compared to the expertise of iran, its a subcontracted job…
mispants, when I Google “DON PYLE” NISMAN, where Nisman is the dead Argentine prosecutor, and Don Pyle is the grandfather in the Annapolis mansion fire, I get results. However, from the links that I have searched, the connection comes from news events being aggregated, such as Wikipedia Portal Current Events.
When I look at the separate articles, there is no connection. I have not found an article dealing specifically with the Don Pyle mansion fire which also deals with Nisman or with Argentina.
You probably saw some news aggregator, and were correct to suspect that while you had seen the two together, that there was no actual connection between Alberto Nisman and Don Pyle.
“Something is rotten in the state of
DenmarkArgentina.”mizpants,
I read elsewhere that the murdered prosecutor was aware of the potential threat to his life and sent the details of what he had to a few others just a day or two before he was murdered. It’s possible that one of those persons was that grandfather. It’s plausible that the prosecutor would assume that getting the details out of the country would be the most prudent course.
Geoffrey Brittain, yes, Nisman was aware that his existence may not have been for much longer. While such a connection between Pyle and Nisman may have been possible, my search of the Google links have not turned up any actual connection between Don Pyle and Alberto Nisman, other than being in the news at the same time. Why don’t you go through the link I provided and investigate? Perhaps you will find such a connection. All I found was that they were in the news at the same time.
I suspect the security detail guys have non-disclosure agreements, and likely not many friends in the life insurance business.