MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina insists in Peru on humanitarian flight to Falklands

The Malvinas families' trip to the Falkland Islands for the inauguration of the monument at the Argentine cemetery in Darwin again surfaced during a private meeting of Argentine and British officials last week, in the framework of the European Union/Latinamerican leaders' summit held in Lima, Peru, according to reports in the Argentine press.

Allegedly Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana and Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells met on Thursday before the plenary session of the EU/Latam Foreign Affairs officials, when Taiana besides addressing bilateral UK-Argentina issues "underlined the importance that for the Argentine government entails the humanitarian flight of the Malvinas families and veterans" to the Falklands for the inauguration of the monument. Although not much more filtered from the meeting admits the Argentine press, Taiana's "interest" (request) was in line with what was programmed for early last April when President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Prime Minister Gordon Brown were scheduled to meet in the context of a progressive parties encounter in Britain hosted by the Labor party. Mrs. Kirchner had to cancel the trip because of the Argentine farmers strike. The Argentine press reports that Peruvian authorities had confirmed until last moment that PM Brown would be going to Lima but finally the British delegation that turned up was headed by Mr. Howell, second in the Foreign Office to David Miliband. The Argentine press also points out that UK/Argentina relations have cooled considerably since the Kirchners' administrations back in 2004 decided to "Malvinize" relations, that is insist at all possible opportunity and world forums on Argentina's claims over the South Atlantic islands. The last high level meeting took place in New York, in 2004 when then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met with Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Bielsa. Taiana at the time was his deputy. Although the monument at the Argentine cemetery to honor the dead of the 1982 conflict was finished back in 2004, there has been no official inauguration because Argentina and the Falkland Islands government can't agree on details. While Argentina insists that the 750 to 800 visitors (one for each of the 649 Argentine soldiers killed plus special guests and other officials) should fly in, the Falklands government points out that the Islands does not have the infrastructure or accommodation for such a huge one time deployment of visitors and suggests the families and veterans should come by sea. The total population of the Falklands is 2.500. Although there has been no official inauguration of the monument, Malvinas veterans and the Argentine media regularly visit the cemetery particularly in summer months or on special commemoration days. The only limitation is the cost of the trip to the Falklands. Islanders have always received Malvinas families and veterans warmly and with respect. The ongoing controversy has been further complicated because since November 2003 Argentina banned all charter flights to the Islands from the South American continent.