NEW YORK/BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina splashed advertisements in leading U.S. newspapers over the weekend to make its case in the ongoing debt saga, slamming holdout creditors and arguing court rulings could force the country into another catastrophic default.
Argentina has been locked for more than a decade in a fight in U.S. courts with creditors who refuse to accept a 2005 and 2010 revamp of debt securities and demand to be repaid in full.
U.S. courts have ruled that Argentina cannot continue to pay creditors who agreed to restructure their bonds after its 2001-02 default on $100 billion in debt unless it also pays $1.33 billion to the holdouts demanding full payment.
“Pay(ing) the vulture funds is a path leading to default, and if they are not paid, (U.S. District Court) Judge Griesa’s order entails jeopardizing the right of the bondholders to collect their debt restructured in 2005 and 2010,” the full-page advertisement in The New York Times’ Sunday issue reads.
The manifesto also lambasted holdout hedge funds, which leftist president Cristina Fernandez has long characterized as “vultures” for picking over the bones of the 2002 debt crisis, which thrust millions of middle-class Argentines into poverty.
