MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Mendoza Deputy chosen for Argentina's Malvinas Secretariat

Carmona co-authored the 2012 Ushuaia Declaration

After Argentine President, Alberto Fernández appointed Daniel Filmus as Science Minister, the position of Malvinas Islands Secretary had been vacant until Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero announced Friday he had chosen former Mendoza National Deputy Guillermo Carmona for the job.

The 54-year-old Carmona has chaired the Lower House's Foreign Relations Committee between 2012 and 2015 and vice-chaired it between 2015 and 2019. He has also been in charge of Malvinas Question Parliamentary Observatory.

The newly-appointed official was born in Guaymallén, Mendoza, on June 26, 1967, and, as he says on his own website, he aspires “tirelessly” to be governor of his native province.

Carmona will be in charge of the Secretariat of Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic, while Pablo Tettamanti will remain Secretary of Foreign Relations (or Deputy Foreign Minister), and Guillermo Oliveri as Secretary of Worship.

Cecilia Todesca, who has worked under Cafiero during his tenure as Cabinet Chief since December 10, 2019, will take over as Secretary of International Economic Relations, it was announced.

According to Télam, Cafiero intends to carry out “the execution of bilateral actions, assistance in negotiations, the design of strategies and the coordination of actions with all countries for the defence of Argentine rights and interests” over the Falkland / Malvinas Islands through the Secretariat.

The Argentine government-run news agency also pointed out the new foreign minister “has among the main objectives of his management the deployment of a broad and forceful commemorative agenda for 2022, the year in which the 40th anniversary of the war conflict is celebrated.”

“In this framework, and reaffirming the deep commitment to the Malvinas cause, he will designate the former national diplomat for Mendoza, Guillermo Carmona, as head of the Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic Secretariat,” a Foreign Ministry source was quoted by Télam as saying.

The Foreign Ministry department will be entrusted with “policies and actions carried out by the Advisory Council on issues related to the South Atlantic and is in charge of planning and directing the Argentine Antarctic policy, with the implementation of the corresponding international commitments.”

Carmona has also been a coordinator of Argentina's Parlasur bloc, from where he was deeply involved in South Atlantic matters.

He also drafted the bill to create a Congressional Investigative Commission to delve into the sinking of the ARA San Juan submarine and, together with other lawmakers, he carried out the initiative of the Namuncurá-Burdwood Bank Marine Protected Area.

Carmona was also behind the Early Retirement Law for war veterans and, together with Filmus, co-authored the 2012 Ushuaia Declaration, to which all parliamentary blocs adhered, and through which Argentina insisted on its sovereignty claims regarding the Islands.

The newly-appointed Secretary will thus leave his position as head of the military pensions office within the Defense Ministry.

Carmona graduated as a lawyer from the University of Buenos Aires in 1995, having specialized in Public Law. He has graduate degrees in Social Sciences (2000) and Political Economy (2002) at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO-Argentina), among other academic achievements.

His political career dates back to the early 2000s in his native province of Mendoza.