MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine president and multi-party delegation leave for UN Falklands’ debate

Tango 01 will transport a considerable delegation to New York

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez leaves Wednesday at 19.00 hours for New York where on Thursday afternoon she is scheduled to address the UN Decolonization Committee claiming sovereignty over the Falklands/Malvinas and other South Atlantic Islands as well as demand discussions with the UK over the future of those territories.

Tango 01, the presidential aircraft will be carrying not only the head of state and her normal support staff, but also Minister of Foreign Affairs Hector Timerman with his advisors plus a multitude of members of Congress, governors and Malvinas veterans.

It will be the first time a head of state addresses the so called C24, thus emphasizing the escalating campaign mounted by Argentina on the year of the 30th anniversary of the end of the Malvinas war to demand the UK begin discussions on the Islands sovereignty as has been recommended by UN resolutions.

Cristina Fernandez has invited representatives from all political parties to accompany her, from both Houses, as well as governors, mayors plus Malvinas war veterans’ organizations, with the purpose of showing the C24 and the world that Argentina is united behind the Malvinas Islands claim.

Only representatives from Buenos Aires City mayor Mauricio Macri political grouping have not joined the crusade, not because they don’t share the demand, but rather because of the growing conflict between President Cristina Fernandez and the government of the Argentine capital.

Conservative Macri considered a presidential candidate with chances for 2015 has been under constant fire from the central government with disputes over urban transport, (buses and underground); subsidies to keep them running at cheap fares; garbage dumps in the neighbouring Buenos Aires province; funding of city schools, hospitals and law enforcement and now a housing plan with accessible mortgages.

Nevertheless the PRO grouping of Mayor Macri sent a letter to the C24 expressing full support for Argentina Malvinas Islands’ claims, but at the same time told Casa Rosada that “we need to be respectful of each other”.

President Cristina Fernández, according to Argentine media, in her speech will insist on having the UK comply with UN resolutions and begin talks on the Malvinas’ sovereignty; attack London for the militarization of the South Atlantic; for the illegal and illegitimate exploitation of natural resources in a disputed territory and underline that the UK’s stance is not only an affront to Argentina but to the whole of the continent which is aligned behind the objective of denouncing and ending all vestiges of anachronic colonialism in Latin America.

The Argentine position will be countered by Falkland Islands lawmakers and a delegation of young Islanders (born after the 1982 conflict) who will argue their families have been living in the Islands for eight/nine generations and are most happy to remain British subjects based on the UN enshrined principle of peoples’ self determination that Argentina consistently denies. Furthermore the Falklands as Argentina is a land of immigrants with the difference that in the Islands there was no indigenous population as in the continent.

Cristina Fernandez is also scheduled to hold a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to further push for the good offices of the UN in trying to bring both sides, UK and Argentina, together to discuss Malvinas sovereignty.

On Friday the Argentine president will meet CEOs from leading US corporations inviting them to invest in Argentina and on Sunday evening leaves for Mexico to the G20 summit that begins next Monday.

On Monday President Cristina Fernandez suspended all scheduled activities to be next to her son Maximo Kirchner, who underwent an operation on his right knee for septic arthritis. He had to be flown urgently to Buenos Aires from Rio Gallegos in Santa Cruz where he lives.

The minor surgery was successful, the recovery is satisfactory and Maximo is expected to remain in hospital for another 72 hours in order to fully recover, according to the medical release.

Since the death of her husband and former president Nestor Kirchner, Maximo has become a close political advisor of her mother and even more significant the emotional support of the Argentine president.