MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Strong reference to the Falklands at Venezuela’s dawn of ‘a new independence’

Mrs. Kirchner claims a rig sailed 14.000 kilometres “to extract oil from our Malvinas”

Argentina’s president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called on Monday for the end to the Falklands/Malvinas “colonial enclave”, as she forecasted from Venezuela, standing as a privileged guest next to Hugo Chavez, that Latinamerica is in the process of a “second independence”.

Invited by Hugo Chavez as the honour speaker for the launching of Venezuela’s 200 anniversary of the struggle for independence, Mrs. Kirchner blasted the United Kingdom for its intromission in the “Malvinas sea”, thanked Latinamerica solidarity in Argentina’s claims over the Falklands and described as a “universal obligation” that once and for all the “colonial enclave” in the South Atlantic must come to an end.

“In my country there’s an exploration rig that sailed 14.000 kilometres to extract oil from our Malvinas islands. That is the mirror which must guide us. This, the battle for natural resources is one of the clues that we must be aware of to understand the XXI century”, said Mrs. Kirchner addressing the Venezuelan National Assembly.

“We are going through an age of transformations”, added the Argentine president following an introduction on South American history leading to our days. “I’m convinced we are facing a second independence” and this means that the Malvinas islands will eventually return to their legitimate origin, Argentina supported by law, history, geography and the inalienable rights of the Argentine people.

Mrs. Kirchner not only was the honour speaker, she was also seated next to President Chavez and his three daughters during the three-hour long parade stoically enduring the tropical forty degrees Celsius, and in spite of her large dark glasses and fan, repeatedly exchanged comments with the Venezuelan leader.

She was also next to Chavez when honouring Venezuela’s national hero Simon Bolivar and later shared the solemn march at the gardens dedicated to Venezuela’s heroes.

But the review in the Caracas press was not so favourable. El Nacional reported that in the bicentennial, “Chavez has the stage but Cristina harvests dividends”, since she was the sole speaker and undoubtedly there’s no comparison between her oratory capacity for sarcasm and the Venezuelan leader’s string of snap phrases and primitive jingles.

The newspaper also recalled that Argentina likes to “take advantage and privileges economic and trade agreements, but not ideological commitments” with the Venezuelan government”.

Finally several articles refer to her plummeting in opinion polls just a few months after taking office and recall that the “distinguished visitor” is a well known solicitor with a vast experience in collecting monies through repossessed homes (*), was a controversial member of the Argentine Lower House, a Senator that under president Carlos Menem supported privatizations and as a First Lady had a convincing influence over two of the government’s branches”.

(*) When the Kirchner couple moved to Santa Cruz province in the late seventies, they have been accused by the Argentine press and several unions of having made a fortune in real estate through successful repossession of mortgaged homes.