MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Number of Malvinas Families next of kin traveling to Falklands is 375

Lan Chile’s Airbus A 340 with capacity for 256 passengers will be flying on the two first Saturdays of October

The Malvinas Families members that will be traveling to the Falkland Islands next month for the official inauguration of the Memorial at the Argentine Cemetery at Darwin will be limited to 375 (170 and 205) according to the latest reports from Buenos Aires.

The news has disappointed some “one hundred Malvinas Families members” whose beloved are buried in Darwin since they were expecting two full flights of 240 next of kin to travel to the Falklands on October 3 and 10.

In late August an advance group from the Malvinas Families visited the Falklands to coordinate with officials from the Islands’ government and the Foreign Office details of the coming visit, originally planned for two delegations of 240 next of kin on the two first consecutive Sundays of October.

Meantime a group from the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry met in Santiago de Chile with representatives from Lan Chile, the airline that links the Falklands with the continent, to request that for the event the Airbus A-320 be replaced by the A-340 which can transport 256 passengers.

The official communiqué from the Argentine ministry finally established that the number of next of kin flying to the Falklands would be 170 on October 3 and 205 the following Saturday.

The original idea was that one representative for each of the 649 Argentines killed during the 1982 conflict with Britain, would be present at the inauguration of the Memorial at Darwin cemetery, which had been completed in 2004.

However the issue remained bogged because the Falklands do not have the infrastructure or necessary logistics for lodging or receiving 700 to 800 people at one time, as Argentine authorities repeatedly insisted.

Moreover Argentina has banned all charter flights to the Falklands.

In 2008 Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner stated that the official inauguration of the Memorial at Darwin to honour the Argentines fallen during the 1982 Malvinas conflict was a “humanitarian and political” objective.

Negotiations begun rolling, --according to the Argentine press--, following the 2008 late March meeting in Santiago de Chile between British PM Gordon Brown and President Cristina Kirchner, during the progressive leaders’ summit hosted by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

From then on the negotiations were the responsibility of the Malvinas and South Atlantic Desk at the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry under Ambassador Eduardo Airaldi. In May this year Mrs. Kirchner announced that a “humanitarian” agreement had been reached for the next of kin to travel to the Falklands for the Memorial opening.

Apparently one of the reasons for the significant reduction in the number of next of kin travelling for the ceremonies has been the drastic cuts in government budget spending which also includes Foreign Affairs.

The Argentine government will be paying for fares, transport, food, medical insurance and lodging if necessary from the moment the next of kin leaves home until he/she returns.

The other side of the story is that according to the agreement reached with the Kirchner administration, the two Lan Chile flights on October 3 and 10, had to respect bookings from Islanders and normal traffic, with the rest of seats available for the Argentine next of kin and not vice-versa.

A combination of both seems the more plausible reason for the 375 number.