Suleiman's Visit to Argentina Called off over 1994 Attack in Buenos Aires
President Michel Suleiman's expected visit to South America over the weekend will not include Argentina over a terrorist attack allegedly carried out by Hizbullah in Buenos Aires, media reports said on Thursday.
Sources told al-Liwaa newspaper that Suleiman's visit to Argentina was canceled because of the pressure exerted by the Israeli lobby in Buenos Aires over accusations that Hizbullah carried out the attack on a Jewish association in Argentina's capital in 1994.
The daily said that Suleiman's tour will include only Peru and Uruguay, where he is set to meet with senior officials and Lebanese expatriates.
Argentine prosecutors allege that the attack was planned and financed in Iran and carried out by a Hizbullah cell.
Argentina has South America's largest Jewish community, about 300,000.
In the attack on July 18, 1994 a van loaded with explosives exploded outside the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association.
Besides the fatalities, 85 people were killed and more than 300 were injured in the country's worst terrorist attack. The six-story building that housed the association was leveled.
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