MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexican group organizing round of conferences on the Falklands/Malvinas war

Dean of the Mexican Autonomous University (UNAM) Dr Jose Narro Robles

The Solidarity with Malvinas Islands Group in Mexico is organizing a round of conferences next April/June in coincidence with the 30th anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas war to which will be invited academics both from Argentina and the UK.

The Group which was created on the initiative of Argentina ambassador in Mexico, Patricia Vaca Narvaja brings together a group of prestigious Mexican intellectuals, academics and analysts under the guidance of Dr. Jorge Garciadiego president of the College of Mexico.

One of the first activities of the Group was precisely to invite Argentine representative before the UN Jorge Argüello who made some highly controversial unsupported statements on the Falklands’ economy and social and living conditions.

The panel that will be organizing the conferences and will begin sending invitations next November besides Dr Garciadiego includes the Dean of the Mexican Autonomous University (UNAM) Dr Jose Narro Robles and three former Mexican Foreign Affairs ministers: Jorge Castañeda Gutman; Senator Rosario Green Macias and Fernando Solana.

The main purpose of the group is to support at “regional level the Argentine sovereignty claim over the Malvinas, Georgias del Sur and Sandwich del Sur Islands and surrounding maritime spaces”.

Ambassador Argüello who gave a conference last October 13 was quoted saying that “England knows that if it cuts the social assistance and employment budget of the (Falkland) Islands as it has done with other (British) citizens, it will lead to the emigration to Argentina or South America, where the opposite thing is happening”.

However the elected government of the Falkland Islands responded to Agüello in its twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/falklandsgov) and fought the Ambassador words, arguing that the Falklands are entirely “self sufficient” apart from defence which is the responsibility of the UK.

“Jorge Argüello with some poorly researched comments. Bar defence we are self sufficient. No UK payments are received. We deal in facts”, reads the Twitter message.

UNAM Dean Dr. Narro Robles said that the Solidarity Group is fully supportive of Argentina and that the powerful nations of the world ignoring UN resolutions “are under the paradox of living in the XXI century while giving continuity to conducts from the XX century”.