By Peter Pepper - Private conferences have long been used by pressure groups to get something they want onto the public agenda. The so-called Argentine-British Conferences were like this. They were an Argentine idea, and the so-called 'British' delegations were largely controlled by, and packed with, Falklands’ opponents in Britain. They achieved the nickname the Argentine Biased Conferences or the Anti-British Conferences. But they failed in their objective and faded away.
At least two Uruguayan lawmakers have confirmed to the British embassy in Montevideo that they will be travelling to the Falkland Islands next March for the referendum on the Islands political status and future. The trips are financed by the embassy and according to parliament sources in Montevideo the list could become longer.The news was published in a Montevideo weekly.
This Friday the Malvinas Forum, chapter Uruguay will be celebrating its first anniversary and is expected to announce a statement strongly rejecting the coming referendum in the Falklands on the Islands political status which is scheduled for March 10/11. The meeting will be held in Maldonado where it was originally launched.
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman said on Thursday that the British government’s position on the Falklands/Malvinas Islands issue “smells too much like petroleum”, revealing that UK’s biggest interest in keeping the invaded archipelago is due to the potential oil findings.
An Argentine columnist has found two great virtues: audacity and tolerance in Foreign Minister Hector Timerman current incursion in London to lobby and argue in favour of the most intransigent of Argentina’s position on the Falklands’ dispute.
There is no such thing as Falkland Islanders, the Argentine Foreign minister Hector Timerman insisted during a press conference in London on Wednesday, claiming they are British citizens living in disputed islands. He claimed the United Nations only acknowledges two parties in the territorial dispute: UK and Argentina.
Falkland Islands lawmakers met on Wednesday morning with Foreign Secretary William Hague and regretted the absence of Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman but also understand Argentina’s deep concern with “our (March) referendum, which is why they spend so much time dismissing it”.
Foreign Minister Timerman can go to bed tonight and dream of owning the Falklands in twenty years if he wishes, but there’s not much reality to it, pointed out a Falklands’ lawmaker reacting to the Argentine minister’s statements on Tuesday to the UK media.
Argentine authorities backed away from a recent ultimatum for Brazilian mining giant Vale to submit a new timeline for its 6 billion dollars Rio Colorado potash mine, giving the company more time to find a solution for the imperiled project.
Brazil's high fruit demand didn't prevent the general collapse of Argentine export of pears and apples. The exchange rate lag was a determining factor in this trading debacle, but better prospects are expected for 2013.