Argentine ex-presidents asked to testify in Menem’s son case

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A court on Wednesday asked six former Argentine presidents to testify in the investigation into the 1995 death of the son of ex-President Carlos Menem.

The Argentine court requested the testimony of Fernando de la Rua, Ramon Puerta, Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, Eduardo Caamano, Eduardo Duhalde and Cristina Fernandez. All followed Menem as presidents after his 1989-1999 rule.

Menem said Friday he believes his son was killed by the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, which prosecutors also suspect was behind two 1990s bombings in Buenos Aires.

Menem said that then-Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella had told him he heard through foreign embassies of Hezbollah’s alleged involvement. But Menem, who is currently a senator, did not provide details or evidence for the claim.

Menem’s lawyer, Omar Luis Daer, told the local TN television channel on Wednesday that Menem wants to know what kind of information the security secretariat had about Hezbollah’s possible involvement in the death of his son after he left office.

Carlos Facundo Menem was 26 when the helicopter he was piloting crashed on March 15, 1995. Menem and his ex-wife have said they believe their son was killed.

Argentine prosecutors believe Hezbollah and Iran were responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre that killed 85 people in the country’s worst terrorist attack.

Both bombings occurred while Menem was president of Argentina, which has the largest Jewish population of any Latin America country.