MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tierra del Fuego condemns 1989 Madrid Treaty and UK “unilateral actions” in the South Atlantic  

The conference held in Tierra del Fuego with the participation of the governor, Rosana Bertone, former foreign minister Jorge Bielsa, and the Malvinas Question related affairs Secretary, Jorge Arguell

“Thirty years since the Madrid Treaty: rethinking a new national strategy for Malvinas”, was the heading of the conference held in the extreme south Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego with the participation of the governor, Rosana Bertone, former foreign minister Jorge Bielsa, and the Malvinas Question related affairs Secretary, Jorge Arguello a diplomat and one of possible foreign minister names if the opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez wins the presidential election this month.

In October 1989, UK and Argentina agreed to reestablish full diplomatic relations which included a raft of understandings regarding fishing, oil, shipping. connectivity in the post 1982 South Atlantic conflict scenario.

These understandings were followed by a good neighbors' approach and collaboration under president Carlos Menen and his anglophile foreign minister Guido Di Tella with his seduction policy.

However this attitude was short-lived and by the turn of the millennium, it was back to the old days of claiming Falklands sovereignty talks while trying to isolate the Islands and damage its economy, which flourished with particular intensity during the Kirchner couple years, and could be returning if current president Mauricio Macri's reelection bid is definitively defeated.

And with Macri's demise, could come the diluting or postponement of the 2016 Foradori/Duncan communiqué setting the foundations for a constructive relation between Argentina and UK, including a special chapter on the South Atlantic

Governor Bertone claimed that the Foradori/Duncan deal was done behind Congress and the back of Tierra del Fuego province, which under the official denomination also includes South Atlantic Islands, Malvinas and Antarctica.

She also recalled that when it comes to fisheries, hydrocarbons and communications, “Argentina has only seen the consolidation of the British position in the South Atlantic instead of London accepting to begin sovereignty negotiations. The policy of pleasing the Brits once again has shown to be a great fallacy”.

“An example is Antarctica, following an agreement on Antarctic cooperation with the UK, they register and flag their newest state of the art exploration vessel in the Malvinas. A clear provocation and again a sample of the different unilateral actions they have taken”, insisted Bertone.

Fisheries and licenses awarded on Argentine natural resources in the Argentine Sea (South Atlantic), “we have protested as a province to the Federal Fishing Council, and how does the federal government react?, they once again refloat with UK the South Atlantic Fisheries Committee Scientific Sub-committee of joint research cruises.

Likewise with the development of the hydrocarbons industry, and, added Ms Bertone this was possible because of the Foradori/Duncan deal, ”a black negative chapter in recent history of Tierra del Fuego“.

”It was done behind congress, ignoring the opinion of “fueguinos” and continued to advance with unilateral concessions which return us to the spirit of the Madrid agreements which we thought had been overcome.

“The constitutional mandate, history, our legitimate rights and conviction forces me to sustain and defend a strong State policy and the territorial integrity of the province, which I will continue to comply with, wherever I stand, that's my commitment”, concluded governor Bertone.