But Fernandez refuses to pay the holdouts calling NML Capital and others "vulture funds" for buying debt for pennies on the dollar in 2002, when Argentina's economy was in ruins and now wanting to collect in full.
The fiery, center-left leader says it was their loss for refusing two opportunities to swap defaulted bonds for new, less valuable bonds that the state has reliably paid since 2005.
NML Capital fund, run by billionaire Paul Singer and other plaintiffs, slammed Argentina's arguments late on Friday.
"With more than $43 billion in foreign currency reserves and tens of billions of dollars in additional resources, Argentina has the overwhelming capacity to pay the $1.3 billion it owes in this matter," Peter Truell, spokesman for NML's parent company Elliott Management Corp., told the Associated Press in e-mail.
"Today's filing by the Republic once again demonstrates Argentina's irrational persistence in evading its contractual obligations and the orders of US courts."
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Feb. 27 before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
____
Associated Press writer Luis Andres Henao in Santiago, Chile contributed to this report.
__
Luis Andres Henao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Reader Comments (