MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Scioli and Taiana to lead main Malvinas conflict commemoration

Malvinas Memorial at Ushuaia

Argentina's vice president Daniel Scioli and Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana will lead next Monday April 2 in Ushuaia the main commemorations of the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the South Atlantic conflict which in Argentina is remembered as Malvinas Veteran's Day.

They will replace President Nestor Kirchner who was originally scheduled to lead the commemoration that is to be held next to the Ushuaia's monument to the fallen in Malvinas. The Argentine Lower House on Wednesday held a special session to honor the Malvinas war veterans and those fallen in combat. The initiative for the special session came from the government benches but with full support from all parties represented in Congress. Meantime the Argentine Ministry of Defense announced that a special commemoration has been organized for next June 10 to remember the creation of the Argentine governorship in Malvinas in the first half of the XIX century, which for Argentina is a cornerstone of its sovereignty claims over the Falkland Islands. Defense minister Nilda Garré also met with representatives from the Malvinas Fallen Families Commission and reiterated her office's invitation for the participation in all commemoration events programmed for the 25th anniversary of the conflict. The Families committee was headed by president Hector Cisneros; vice president Jorge Medina; Delmira de Cao, chairperson; Leandro de la Colina, treasurer and Cesar Gonzalez Trejo. According to a release from the Defense ministry members of the Commission also talked about the organization of a special event to remember those lost when the sinking by a British nuclear submarine of the cruiser "General Belgrano". The commemoration is planned for May in the high seas. Minister Garre confirmed all events will be unilateral since Argentina declined an invitation to hold a joint 25th anniversary commemoration with Britain. Garré finally announced that the tall ship "Libertad" which acts as the Argentine Navy academy school vessel and is scheduled to leave in the coming days with cadets for its annual world tour will not be calling on this occasion in any British port. From Casa Rosada cabinet chief Jose Fernandez said that Argentina is willing to cooperate with the UK but recalled that the sovereignty dispute over the Falklands, 25 years after the war, has not moved an inch and is an issue "still pending" of discussion. "Argentina is not contrary to cooperation with the UK in the South Atlantic, but given the necessary legal safeguards on practical issues which contribute to create conditions for resumption of dialogue on the core issue, and without ignoring that both sides must find a solution to the (Falklands) sovereignty dispute", said President Kirchner's cabinet chief. Britain has systematically argued that the Islanders have a right to self determination and until and unless Islander so request it, no sovereignty talks will be held. Argentina ignores the Falklands elected government arguing that the dispute is bilateral, (UK/Argentina) and so recognized by United Nations. The Islands' government is thus "illegitimate" and so are the "pretended colonial authorities".