MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Only two charter flights next December.

Argentina has authorized only two charter flights to the Falkland Islands in December and has requested Spain to intercede before Britain in helping establish a direct air link between Argentina and the Islands, according to an article published in the Monday edition of Buenos Aires daily “Clarín”.

Apparently Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Rafael Bielsa rang his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio asking for her involvement before the Tony Blair administration regarding the direct link, given the "close syntony" between the two main European members of the Iraq alliance and the fact that Aerolíneas Argentinas, --one of the potential candidates for the link--, now belongs to Spanish private investors. "Clarín" says that Ms. Palacio promised "to look into the matter".

The two authorized charters are scheduled for December 7 and 21. A further request for a December 10 flight was rejected.

This follows November's decision limiting charter flights to the Islands to three, on the 9th. 12th. and 21st., and conditioned to a promise from Sir Robin Christopher, British Ambassador in Buenos Aires that the Foreign Office will look into the "direct air link" issue and negotiations will soon begin.

However Sir Christopher anticipated that any proposal on the matter must be accepted by the Falklanders.

"Clarín" also indicates that the big looser in the "no turning back" Argentine position is Lan Chile, the Chilean carrier that flies every week to Falklands and that last October requested an additional 27 flights for the cruise season extending from November to March 2004.

Lan Chile's General Manager in Buenos Aires Francisco Vidal signed the 27 charters request and now argues that the company will be loosing 900,000 US dollars in tickets already sold for this cruise season and an additional 900,000 US dollars in connecting flights to Europe and United States.

Further on the Buenos Aires daily reveals that the "direct link to Falklands' offensive" was brought up by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Taiana during a "discreet" visit to London last June.

Later in August Argentina informed Chilean authorities in Santiago and Lan Chile that the charter flights to Falklands from Punta Arenas "would be coming to an end". No mention has been made of the Lan Chile "non regular" weekly flights to MPA.

This is the second article of this nature in recent weeks published by "Clarín" that apparently has become the "spokesperson" for Mr. Bielsa and the Falklands Desk in the Argentine Foreign Affairs Office.

The argument behind the "direct air link with the Falklands" offensive of the Kirchner administration is that 21 years have elapsed since the war and its time for closer communications with "Malvinas/Falklands".