MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK ambassador underlines close historic links between Falklands and Punta Arenas

Ambassador Benjamin meeting the exchange program students

British ambassador in Chile Jon Benjamin met this week in Punta Arenas with a group of local students from municipal managed schools who were recently part of an exchange program with the Falkland Islands and underlined the close links between the two communities.

“It was a great meeting: they are 12 and 13 olds from low income homes. They told me about their experiences in the Falklands and how they enjoyed the exchange, most of it in Spanish but they also said it had helped them to improve their English and they can manage the language much better”, said Ambassador Benjamin who spent a week visiting the extreme south region of Chile, Magallanes, reports La Prensa Austral.

“The students said the initiative should become a regular event to improve knowledge about the Falklands, about English culture and meeting teenagers from another country” pointed out the Ambassador who nevertheless said the Argentine attitude regarding the Falkland Islands and the blockade they have imposed are not helpful.

“What really complicates these people-to-people meetings and exchanges is Argentina’s attitude with its sovereignty claim over the Falklands and which they are, we believe, trying to blockade the Islands economically”, said the UK official.

“We call the Islands Falklands because that is how the Islanders who live there call them and it is up to them to decide how they are going to name them” pointed out Ambassador Benjamin who said there is a certain “resentment” among the Falkland Islanders towards the word “Malvinas” because it has “a strong political significance and brings back the bad memories of when they were occupied in 1982” during the South Atlantic conflict.

Ambassador Benjamin visited the Magallanes Region for the third time since taking his post in Santiago because he is “marvelled with the landscape and the friendliness of the people”.

“Although Magallanes is not more than 1% of Chile’s GDP, it has a great importance for us (the British) since we have close historic and emotional links with the region” said Benjamin recalling Charles Darwin expeditions and research in the region and the presence of missionaries in the XIX century.

“Mind you, I’ve visited all of Chile but the region which personally most attracts me, which most fascinates me because of its isolation is Magallanes”, revealed Benjamin.

The British ambassador was also hosted by the Chilean Navy who toured him through the fiords of the region visiting the Cape Horn lighthouses and Puerto Toro before retuning to Punta Arenas.