MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Two candidates favour contacts with Islanders

The five main candidates for the Argentine presidential election next May 25 favour intensifying diplomatic actions to recover the Falkland Islands and all similarly criticize the current caretaker administration of President Duhalde for its “passivity” regarding the issue.

In a brief review published by La Nación, Carlos Menem, Néstor Kirchner, Adolfo Rodríguez Sáa, Elisa Carrió and Ricardo López Murphy said they are committed to continue with the current venue of diplomacy and negotiations, and condemned the war that began April 2, 1982 and ended in defeat with 649 Argentine servicemen killed. However with the exception of Mr. Menem and Mr. López Murphy, all other candidates criticized former Minister of Foreign Affairs Guido di Tella "seduction policy" of the nineties. Menem. Mr. Alberto Kohan head of Mr. Menem campaign underlined the "achievements" of the Malvinas policy during the ten years of the former president administration and anticipated that "we will keep insisting with London and international multilateral organizations", adding that "while we negotiate with the United Kingdom, contact with the population of the Falklands will be very important". Kirchner. "Moderation, rationality and diplomacy" will be the pillars of the Malvinas policy of a future Kirchner administration, with "negotiations limited to Great Britain". Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the Santa Cruz governor's wife was more explicit saying that the emphasis will be insistence in international forums. "Those who today are occupying Malvinas are the same as those today invading Iraq", said the lady Senator who expects a new international geopolitical order to emerge from the current Iraq crisis, enabling the next government to recover the Falklands. However a more moderate advisor of Mr. Kirchner said "we will keep to diplomacy and will not turn Falklands into newspaper headlines". Rodríguez Sáa. "No seduction policy is possible, we want United Nations resolutions to become effective", remarked Enrique Rodríguez, one of the main advisors of candidate Adolfo Rodríguez Sáa, who added that "the key to our diplomatic strategy to recover Malvinas will be to negotiate in block with the support of Mercosur countries". Carrió.- Elisa Carrió indicated that Malvinas is "a national recognition to the heroes, the soldiers who fought, those who died and those who returned alive, certainly not to those who declared the war". Miguel Angel Espeche Gil, a former Ambassador and considered Ms. Carrió main foreign affairs advisor said that if they are lucky enough to win the election, "our Malvinas policy will abide strictly to international law", but will "not yield one millimetre" in claims over the Falklands. Nevertheless it will be "a long term issue". "We will also work closely with those people in Britain who agree with us", pointed out Mr. Espeche Gil. López Murphy.- For Ricardo López Murphy, home and foreign policy are closely linked and intertwined. "If we make Argentina a serious country, we will have more chances in multilateral, regional and bilateral negotiations". "If we become an interesting country, a country that respects private contracts, we will have 70% more possibilities of success in negotiations". Felipe de la Balze, foreign affairs advisor to Mr. López Murphy, and chairman of CARI (Foreign Relations Argentine Council) added that all available diplomatic tools will be used in the Falklands claim "including improving relations with the population of Malvinas". All candidates coincided in criticizing the current administration's focus limited to presentations in the United Nations annual Assembly and before the Decolonization Committee or G 24, while bilateral negotiations have virtually lost all dynamism.