El U.S.Department Of State sobre Argentina

El informe indica ciertas cuestiones que incomodan al gobierno:

• There were no developments in the 2006 missing-persons case of Jorge Julio Lopez, a 77-year-old victim of torture during the Dirty War and a key witness in the case against Miguel Etchecolatz, former commissioner general of the Buenos Aires Province police. Lopez remained missing at year's end despite government searches and a government reward offer of $315,000 (one million pesos) for information that would help locate him.

• The investigation into the 2006 kidnapping of Luis Gerez continued at year's end. Gerez was missing for two days and reportedly suffered torture and psychological trauma.

• Individuals can criticize the government publicly or privately, but there are criminal penalties, including prison sentences, for libel and slander, and government officials have sought to use these against the political opposition and other critics. The government pressed criminal libel and slander charges against Elisa Carrio, head of the opposition Civic Coalition party, for accusing officials in 2004 of corruption. The courts dismissed one case against her in August and acquitted her in a second case in November. At least two more civil cases against her were pending at year's end.

• Some independent media, NGOs and international organizations claimed that government agencies interfered with media freedom by directing government advertising for partisan political purposes.

• According to the World Bank's worldwide governance indicators, government corruption was a serious problem. Historically weak institutions and an often ineffective and politicized judicial system made rooting out corruption in any systemic fashion difficult.

• In May the government removed two officials, Fulvio Madero, president of the country's natural gas regulatory authority, and Nestor Ulloa, manager of the public trust established to structure private funding for a number of public works projects, for allegedly taking bribes from the Swedish construction company Skanska, which had been awarded a government contract to expand a gas pipeline. The case was under investigation at year's end.

• In June a bomb squad discovered a bag containing 100,000 pesos and $30,000 in the bathroom of Economy Minister Felisa Miceli, who subsequently resigned over the incident. Miceli was taken into custody and posted bail. In a December arraignment hearing, she was formally charged with covering up the scandal and withholding public documents. The case remained pending at year's end.

• In August Claudio Uberti, the government's top regulator of toll roads and bridges, was forced to resign over a foiled attempt by a foreigner to smuggle almost $800,000 into the country from Venezuela. The government's investigation continued at year's end.

• An ACO study concluded at year's end revealed that approximately 75 percent of government purchases between 2002 and 2005 were done via direct contracts, often with a sole provider, and not via public tenders. The ACO report expressed concern that the process can facilitate corruption.