MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tierra del Fuego province will be taken into account in all Falklands' issues

“It was very positive for Tierra del Fuego to be present at the hearing and ask questions on the joint committee”, said deputy governor Arcando.

Tierra del Fuego province will be taken into account in all issues referred to the Malvinas Islands, South Atlantic and Antarctica, the provincial deputy governor Juan Carlos Arcando said in Ushuaia following his attendance to Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra's Senate hearing in Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning.

 ”It was very positive for Tierra del Fuego to be present at the hearing and ask questions on those points of the (Argentina/UK) joint committee which have generated controversy. We must also underline the public pledge from the minister that the province's position will be taken into account in all issues referred to the Malvinas Islands“, affirmed Arcando.

The deputy governor said that during the hearing he asked questions relative to migration, purchase of land in the Falklands/Malvinas by Argentine citizens and spares for the Argentine navy, ”which although having been paid for remain retained with several of our surface units unable to operate normally“.

Jorge Lopez, another member of the provincial delegation to the hearing, also praised the public commitment to extend participation to the province of Tierra del Fuego on all those issues relative to the Malvinas, South Atlantic and Antarctica, and ”now it is our responsibility to work on each of the ten points of the joint statement and take the position of our province to the Foreign Ministry“.

Senator Jose Ojeda said the province of Tierra del Fuego was ”in a situation in which we are forced to defend our heritage and under no circumstances are we going to yield or make concessions in sovereignty or natural resources, since they belong to us, to the Argentines and to Tierra del Fuego“. The senator belongs to the opposition Victory Front which theoretically responded to ex president Cristina Fernandez.

The second Tierra del Fuego senator, Julio Catalán Magni, who is deputy chair of the Foreign affairs committee had a rough exchange with Susana Malcorra when he questioned what he described as opposing interests, ”Malvinas on the one hand and the Lady's aspiration to become UN Secretary General“.

Catalan Magni said that so far ”as opposition we have supported government policies so it can advance in its performance and it has been our purpose not to be an obstacle in this first stage“, but also recalled that ”Malvinas has a special sensitivity for Argentines and a special place in our hearts; there is much pain, sadness, bloodshed and for Tierra del Fuego Malvinas is highly poignant”.

Under the Argentine constitution of 1994, the official denomination of the province is Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands (particularly including Falklands).