MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bielsa cautions Chile on Malvinas issue.

Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Rafael Bielsa said that being friendly with a certain country “does not mean you inherit his enemies” but Argentina can't “stand indifferent” if Chilean diplomats participate in the celebration “by an illegitimate government” of an Argentine defeat.

Mr. Bielsa who made a brief 24 hours visit to Santiago for the signing of a 1,5 billion US dollars mining integration treaty protocol with Chile praised the country's foreign policy and governance which is "an example for Argentina" but also made strong suggestions regarding the Falklands.

He began by highlighting Chile's rare "leadership of concepts" such as strong institutions, low country risk, track record of honoring contracts, peaceful coexistence culture and even with right and left polarity the political spectrum is "reasonable" giving the country great governance.

Mr. Bielsa also rejected that Chile has been diplomatically isolated because of the recent situations with neighboring Bolivia and Peru regarding border claims dating back to the XIX century and energy disputes which also involved Argentina when earlier in the year natural gas supplies to Chile were restricted.

"It's unconceivable to consider South America without Chile", said Mr. Bielsa adding that the concept of "South American nation" has been one of the main converging points for Presidents Ricardo Lagos from Chile, Lula da Silva from Brazil and Nestor Kirchner, Argentina.

However regarding Falklands/Malvinas, Chile and Argentina Mr. Bielsa was far more specific and insisted the sovereignty dispute with Britain was as alive as ever.

"We have excellent relations with United States, but this does not mean we are enemies of Cuba". Similarly "we are profoundly close and friendly with Chile but we're not Britain's enemy" in spite of the "historical differences yet to be solved".

However, Argentina could "not stand indifferent" if Chilean diplomats for example "were present at a celebration of the illegitimate government of the Malvinas to celebrate the fall of Puerto Argentino", in London. "Definitively not, if supposedly Chilean diplomatic officials are present at a party to celebrate an Argentine military defeat in a territory which is Argentine, and hosted by an illegitimate government; definitively we can't stand indifferent if that ever happens".