22/10/2012
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentine officials have been ordered to evacuate the majority of its crew aboard the ARA Libertad, a naval training ship that has been detained in a port in Ghana since Oct. 2 because of a court order secured by creditors who claim the South American nation defaulted on bonds.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry said just the captain and few crew will remain on the ship, which had 326 members, including nationals from Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and South Africa.
A judge in Ghana ruled the vessel had to remain in the Port of Tema until Argentina fulfills previous court rulings that awarded about US$1.6 billion to Elliott Management Corp.’s NML Capital Ltd.
Argentine officials are in Ghana trying to strike a deal to release the ship, and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman is expected to meet with the head of the United Nations Security Council on Oct. 22 in New York.
Timerman said the seizure of the ship is “an attack that is nothing more … than a kidnapping, an extortion and an act of piracy against a sovereign nation.”
NML said if Argentina deposits US$20 million with the court, the ship would be released, but Argentine officials will take the matter to court, claiming military vessels can’t be confiscated as collateral.
[BBC (Argentina), 21/10/2012; El Mundo (Spain), 21/10/2012; La Nación (Argentina), 21/10/2012]