Britain warned Argentina against cutting off an air link to the Falklands as part of an economic blockade of the Islands, reports the Evening Standard. Buenos Aires is threatening to stop a weekly flight from Punta Arenas in Chile to Port Stanley by refusing permission for it to use Argentine airspace.
The British government said it would resist any attempts to coerce the Falkland Islands through economic or other pressures, and revealed it is holding ‘productive discussions’ with Uruguay, Chile and Brazil to ensure trade and commercial links between the Islands and South America are not compromised by political declarations.
Uruguay authorized the Royal Navy Ice Patrol HMS Protector into Montevideo because it complies with normal procedure in spite of the fact that its next port of call is Stanley in Falklands/Malvinas.
No changes are needed in current legislation to bar vessels flying the Malvinas flag from entering Uruguayan ports, but Uruguay also speculates that if the vessels change to the English flag there will be no problems, according to a report from the Foreign Affairs ministry.
The President of the Spanish Association of Marine Fishing Officers (Aetinape), José Manuel Muniz, has asked the new Spanish government to get involved and act against the pressure placed on Falklands-flagged vessels by the Argentines, according to an article in the Galician newspaper Faro de Vigo, which examined the Spanish reaction to the ban on the entry of Falklands flagged vessels to Mercosur ports.
Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro spoke Friday on the phone with Foreign secretary William Hague for the first time since the Falklands/Malvinas’ flagged vessels controversy, but both sides apparently could only agree that the situation remains stalled according to brief statements
Mercosur latest decision to bar all Falkland Islands flagged vessels from entering its ports is “more symbolic” than anything else because a change of flag is enough, according to Uruguay’s Ports Authority, ANP President Alberto Díaz.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague and Uruguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro will discuss the Falklands/Malvinas flagged vessels issue on Friday according to a release from the British embassy in Montevideo
Members of the Falklands elected Legislative Assembly deeply regret the Mercosur decision to ban Islands flagged vessels from entering their ports, but also understands “the bullying tactics from Argentina”, said an official Wednesday release from the Falklands’ government.
By Ian Dunt @IanDunt<http://twitter.com/iandunt - “The protection of peoples' self-determination to choose their own government is the protection of the weak from the strong”