Brazil & Southern Cone
The Argentine government admits that it has little idea who was responsible for a series of bombings on 17 November that targeted three Western banks in Buenos Aires. One person was killed and a policeman wounded in what was a coordinated attack timed to coincide with morning rush hour in the capital.
With the notable exceptions of the attacks in the mid 90s against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the AMIA Jewish mutual association, Argentina has been untroubled by terrorism for the last 20 years. These attacks were on nothing like the same scale, using homemade devices of relatively small power. However, the fact they were intended to kill means the perpetrators were not just trying to unsettle the government.
Banks are a familiar target for attacks by radical groups, but on the rare occasions when explosives have been used, they have exploded in the middle of the night and have been accompanied by pamphlets proclaiming the aims and grievances of whoever was responsible. This time the timing implied lethal intent, and no group has claimed responsibility.
The interior minister, Aníbal Fernández, has suggested that 'unemployed workers' carried out the attack but he admitted that the government has 'no precise idea who was responsible'. If it was, as Fernández seems to be suggesting, the work of hardline piqueteros who have decided to escalate their campaign, then the government has good cause for concern. However, another possibility is no less worrying; namely, that elements of Argentina's security forces - much purged under President Kirchner - have decided to get even with the government.