MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina/Chile commemorate 1978 events in P. Arenas

Monsignor Odilo Scherer will represent Pope Benedict XVI

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner travels on Thursday to Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, for the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the crucial papal intervention which defused a full fledged war between the neighbouring countries.

Mrs. Krichner will be received by Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and together with the personal representative of Pope Benedict XVI, Monsignor Odilo Petro Scherer from Brazil are scheduled to inaugurate the founding stone of a monolith that will remember the memory of John Paul II. The monolith will be built at the Mount Aymond pass. In December 1978 Argentina and Chile ruled by military regimes were ready for war over three islands, Picton, Nueva and Lennox along the Beagle channel, which were at the core of a long standing border dispute that also involved direct access to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The main battles were expected to take place in the disputed area, relatively close to Punta Arenas in Magallanes region. But a last minute mediation and direct appeal from John Paul II to both military dictators froze the situation and started a peace process which culminated successfully in 1984. On Friday a special service will be held at Punta Arenas cathedral with both presidents and delegations present as well as ecclesiastic officials from Argentina and Chile. The delegations include the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence.