Argentine Security Secretary claims that ISIS has infiltrated country, retracts hours later.
Argentine Security Security Eugenio Burzaco, who yesterday claimed that Islamic State (ISIS) militants were training recruits in Argentina, was forced to retract his statements just hours later in a politically embarrassing U-turn.
Speaking to the news daily Misiones Primera Edición in the northeastern Argentine city of Posadas, Burzaco claimed that his office had “detected Argentines who have received training in ISIS.” Just hours later he denied that this was the case through a Security Ministry press release stating the exact opposite.
It was the latest in a streak of unfounded statements from the right-wing administration of President Mauricio Macri which linked Middle Eastern terrorist organizations to activities in Argentina but had to be quickly retracted after being debunked.
Burzaco's original interview had gone into some details regarding the alleged ISIS presence in Argentina. “This is something that really worries us because we know that they have been in heated zones of the conflict, in Syria or northern Iraq. There are citizens that have gone there and came back to the country or to neighboring countries like Uruguay,” he declared.
In the subsequent press release, Burzaco claimed this was but a “general appreciation,” and that he was only referring to an earlier investigation - one which resulted in identifying no present threats. “After a complaint of a potential ISIS presence in Corrientes Province, we followed up on the case and so far found nothing indicating their presence in the country,” the Security Secretary admitted.
The governor of Corrientes Province, Ricardo Colombi, is a close ally of the embattled Macri administration.
Burzaco has, from the outset, been one of Macri's most controversial appointments. His older brother, Alejandro Burzaco, is one of nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives that the U.S. Department of Justice charged on May 27, 2015, with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, and other offenses. FBI documents show the elder Burzaco's broadcast company, TyC, paid $110 million in FIFA bribes to retain lucrative regional football media rights.
TyC is co-owned by the Clarín Group, whose "media bulletproofing" proved critical in Macri's narrow electoral win last November. All three - the Clarín Group, the Macri family, and the Burzacos - were listed extensively in the Panama Papers scandal in April.
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/221466/minister-makes-bizarre-uturn-on-islamic-state-in-argentina-claims
= new reply since forum marked as read
Do the people in Macri's administration have the equivalent of a brain among them?
[center]
Eugenio Burzaco sitting beside "President" Macri.
"Derp." [/center]
Burzaco looks barely conscious, and he comes from a dirty family.
Can't get over that family's ties, either. Good grief!
It's doubtful Clarín will have anything credible to say about this, if anything is written at all.
Forest444, does this seem like normal life to you? Everything about Macri seems impossibly creepy, wormy, dishonest, ridiculous!
Thanks for a very interesting new bit of information.
