Malvinas presente!

Friday, October 28th 2011 - 05:07 UTC

UK “defies South America” when it denies Argentina Malvinas sovereignty

The Argentine representative before United Nations, Jorge Argüello claimed that the UK “defies the whole of South America” when it impedes Argentina from patrolling its own waters and exercising sovereignty over its own spaces.

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Argüello said Argentina can’t patrol its own waters or exploit its South Atlantic resources

“Great Britain defies the whole of South America not allowing Argentina to patrol its own waters and denies South America the right to exercise sovereignty over a space which naturally belongs to her”, said ambassador Argüello during a conference at an Italian university to celebrate Argentina’s bicentennial.

The seminar on the economic, political and international evolution of Argentina was also attended by the Argentine ambassador in Italy, Torcuato Di Tella and the Deputy Dean of the Bologna University in Argentina, Vicente Donato, among others.

During the academic event at the Dell’Insubria University in Varese Argüello made it a point to address the Falkland/Malvinas sovereignty dispute with the UK.

“Although the main victim of the English abuse is Argentina, the UK military and government presence in the South Atlantic impedes South America as a whole from exercising its obligation to manage, control and exploit sustainably its own territory and to watch over the well being of our future generations”.

The conference in Italy was in the framework of Argentina’s global campaign “It takes two to Tango” demanding bilateral talks on the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute.

Ambassador Argüello recently held similar conferences at the Political Science Department from the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, at the Nehru University in New Delhi and in the International Relations Institute from the Havana University.

Argüello also visited the International Studies Foundation in China; the ADEN Business School in Panama, National Autonomous University in Mexico and in Cape Town university, South Africa.

In 2010 he visited with his Malvinas claim message, Berlin and the US universities of Columbia and New School.

The following conference of the “It takes two to Tango” road show is scheduled November first at the Latin American Studies Institute from the Chinese Social Sciences Academy in Beijing.
 

Britain protested over US official’s ‘Malvinas’ barb

Whitehall angered after US State Dept spokesman calls the Falklands by their Argentine name

BY TIM EDWARDS LAST UPDATED AT 12:02 ON WED 10 MAR 2010

Britain was forced to issue at least three formal diplomatic protests to the United States last month after a State Department official called the Falklands ‘Las Malvinas’, the Argentine name for the disputed islands.

Until now the British embassy in Washington has said it only spoke to US officials informally about their position on the Falklands after Argentina accused Britain of violating its sovereignty by drilling for oil in the ocean off the islands.

But the Times claims today that ‘demarches’ were made after a State Department spokesman answered the question of why the US was remaining neutral despite Britain’s long history of ownership of the Falkland Islands by saying “whatever you want to call them” and then calling them the “Islas Malvinas”.

A British embassy official told the Times that “nobody has been writing any formal letters” and claimed Britain was “genuinely quite relaxed”, but in truth London has grown increasingly worried about the United States’ attitude towards the Falklands.

Tensions increased after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned what should have been a 10-minute encounter with Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on the fringes of a conference in Uruguay into a two-hour meeting in Buenos Aires.

At the meeting, Clinton encouraged negotiations between Britain and Argentina – something London had already ruled out.

The Obama administration is facing increasing criticism of its handling of the issue from American conservatives. Richard Perle, the assistant Secretary for Defence in 1982 when President Reagan provided intelligence to Britain during the Falklands War, told the Times: “I think using the description Malvinas is offensive to British interests.”

And while British embassy officials may be quite relaxed about the ‘Malvinas’ spat, the same cannot be said of their counterparts in Whitehall.

The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial supporting the British position yesterday. It quoted a “senior Whitehall official” as saying: "After everything we have done with the Americans since September 11, the least we expected was a bit of moral support from Washington. But Mrs Clinton appears to have her own agenda on this issue."  ·