MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean support for UK in Falklands '82, “things of the past”

Van Klaveren underline the close links between Chile and Argentina

Chile's Deputy Foreign Affairs minister Alberto Van Klaveren described the support given by the regime of General Augusto Pinochet to Britain during the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas conflict as “things of the past”.

Speaking with the press during sessions of the Ibero American summit in Santiago that has convened leaders from 22 Latinamerican countries plus Spain and Portugal, Van Klaveren underlined how distant both countries were from 1982 and the fact that Chile, and more precisely the President Michelle Bachelet administration openly and enthusiastically supports Argentina's claims over the Malvinas islands and other South Atlantic insular territories. "This position will be clearly stated in the "Santiago Declaration" which the leaders of the Ibero-American summit will be including and signing on Saturday on conclusion of deliberations", said the Chilean official. On Thursday Foreign Affairs ministers participating at the summit unanimously drafted a statement of support for Argentina's claims over the Falklands and calling for the resumption of Argentine-British negotiations in the framework of the reiterated resolutions from United Nations and the Organization of American States. "There's a positive full support spirit for Argentina's claim to the Malvinas islands", insisted Van Klaveren who recalled that Chile's position on the issue is long standing and dates back to the fifties. "Many Ibero American summits have supported Argentina's claims and from a Chilean stance there's no doubt about it: we fully support those claims and every year in the UN General Assembly we present the resolution draft". Van Klaveren also emphasized the significance and priority that Argentina represents for Chile's foreign policy plus the fact that Chilean president Bachelet and elected president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner are of the same gender and long time friends. "This relation is essential, we have several physical integration projects and very close economic links" he added recalling that Chile has huge investments in Argentina. .