MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malvinas Question incursion to Brazil: Carmona returns with the book, “Brazil and the Malvinas war: between two fires”

Guillermo Carmona (center left) next to Brazilian foreign minister Carlos Alberto Franco França (center right)

The Malvinas Question, Antarctica and Oceans Cooperation, and the revitalization of the Peace and Cooperation Zone in the South Atlantic, ZPCAS, forum were the main points of the agenda addressed by Argentina's special secretary on Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic affairs, Guillermo Carmona during his four-day visit to Brazil.

According to the Argentine foreign ministry release, Carmona accompanied by the Director of Antarctica Foreign Policy, Lopez Crozet, and Argentine embassy staff held several political meetings plus academic activities both at Itamaraty, the Brazilian foreign affairs ministry, and at the University of Brasilia with diplomacy students.

Carmona arrived to Brasilia last Tuesday and took off with a conference at the Itamaraty think-tank the Rio Branco Institute in which he advanced future diplomatic activities and strategy referred to the Malvinas Question.

He later met with Admiral Flavio Viana Rocha, head advisor of Strategic Issues from the Brazilian presidency during which the main points addressed were cooperation in the South Atlantic and re launching the ZPCAS forum scheduled to meet next November in Cape Verde.

Carmona also thanked his host for Brazil's support for Argentina's Falklands' sovereignty claim at the June United Nations C/24 Decolonization session in New York.

Antarctica affairs also figured outstandingly: Carmona met with the head of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Sea Resources, the Deputy head of the Brazilian Antarctic Program and the head of the Itamaraty Desk on Sea, Antarctica and Space; bilateral relations, Antarctica cooperation and joint position in specialized multilateral forae, plus the institulization of current cooperation in these fields was discussed.

The converging ocean programs, Blue Pampa and Blue Amazon initiatives were also addressed aiming for a greater dialogue, exchange of information, scientific cooperation and the sustainable development of marine resources.

The Argentine official met with members of the Malvinas Dialogue Support Committee, a non government organization which again ratified support for the Argentine position and the need to make possible dialogue on the sovereignty dispute with the United Kingdom, retaking the mandates from the UN General Assembly and the Decolonization Committee.

Another chapter of the busy agenda of Carmona was the opening of the “Islas Malvinas Argentinas” conference room at the Argentine embassy in Brasilia to which Itamaraty officials, from the Federal District and ambassadors from GRULAC (Latin American and Caribbean Group) were invited as well as delegates from C24 country members. The ceremony also included the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to historic documents confirming Brazil's support for Argentina in 1833, when Britain 'usurped' the Malvinas Islands.

On Thursday Carmona met the top officials from Itamaraty. Foreign minister Carlos Alberto Franco França, deputy minister Fernando Salinas Magalhaes and the secretary general of the ministry Ambassador Michel Arslanian Neto.

Issues considered included Antarctica, the coming ZPCAS meeting and the Malvinas Question. The minister gave Carmona a copy of the book, “Brazil and the Malvinas War: between two fires” written by Joao Martings Filho which is to be added to the Argentine foreign ministry library on issues related to the South Atlantic.

Finally, according to the official release, Carmona gave an academic lecture at the University of Brasilia titled, “Bi-continental and Oceanic Argentina: Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic”. The audience estimated in some one hundred students belonged to the Diplomatic School, and there was a lively exchange of questions and answers.

Carmona explained the historic perspective of the Malvinas Question as well as the geopolitical implications of such a situation in the XXI century, as well as the challenges both for Argentina and Brazil of a foreign extra-region power with a formidable base in the South Atlantic.

The Argentine foreign ministry has anticipated that Carmona's Brazil visit was the first of several to other regional countries to address the Malvinas Question