MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malcorra regrets no previous warning on the Falklands' military exercises

“The British decision definitively took us by surprise; there was no previous warning which evidently is not good. It does not contribute to confidence building”

Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra said that the recent diplomatic row with the UK over military exercises in the Falkland Islands shows that the consequences of the war persist and reiterated her disappointment with London for not giving the Argentine government any previous warning.

 “I think it is clear that we are still living the consequences of a war. But this also involves the other side, and the regret I expressed has to do with the fact the military tests effectively show that they are also under the impact of the war”, said Malcorra currently in Rome where she first accompanied president Mauricio Macri to a meeting with Pope Francis. She remained in Italy for a FAO conference.

All things entail emotion and sometimes it is good to explicit them added the minister who pointed out to the “remora” of the (South Atlantic) war which means every year this kind of tests take place, in reference to the British announcement of Rapier missile launching during the last week of the month.

Malcorra admitted that “the British decision on military exercises definitively took us by surprise, there was no previous warning which evidently is not good. It does not contribute to confidence building. But I also attribute this to the atomicity of bureaucracies, it leaves a bitter taste, there's no way of avoiding it”.

“This simply means that the UK continues with its historic planning”, but the long term solution to conflicts does not happen overnight. It has to be built. We must try to achieve it“.

The incident which triggered a protest letter from the Argentine government to the UK ambassador in Buenos Aires, also took president Mauricio Macri by surprise. ”He was surprised it happened without having at least an indication or previous warning“.

The fact it took the president by surprise is not a positive thing, so the president left the issue in the hands of the foreign ministry, affirmed the Argentine minister.

But ”this episode should not become an event that spoils everything. These exercises have been taking place systematically over the last twenty years. Obviously it is much better not to have such a display since it entails as philosophy a conflict hypothesis“.

Finally Malcorra acknowledged that ”it would have been much better to have anticipated the situation, but is this the end of the world?, no certainly not“.

It must be recalled that the original release from the Argentine foreign ministry criticizing the military tests, 337/16, October 14, strongly points out that the ministry became aware of ”the British illegitimate military exercises in the Malvinas Islands area, between October 19 and 28, which include the launching or Rapier missiles”, through the Ministry of Defense's Naval Hydrographic Service.