BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The government of Argentina will seek criminal charges against representatives of a U.S.-based global printing company that abruptly shuttered its plant in the South American country, the president said Thursday.
Representatives of RR Donnelley & Sons may have sought to “create fear in the population” and undermine the economy with the plant closure and that could be a possible violation of an anti-terrorism law, President Cristina Fernandez said in a speech to announce a new housing program.
It would be the first application of the anti-terrorism law that was adopted in 2011.
Fernandez said there was no legitimate economic justification for the closure and she accused the company of collaborating with foreign investors whose decade-long legal battle with the government triggered a July 30 default.
Workers at the RR Donnelley printing plant on the Buenos Aires outskirts showed up Monday to find a note informing them the facility was closed due to an “insurmountable crisis.” About 400 workers lost their jobs.
A spokeswoman in the company’s headquarters in Chicago did not respond to messages seeking comment.
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