MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Punta Arenas Winter Hockey Cup: Tierra del Fuego official calls Chilean mayor a 'colonialist'

Mayor Radonich and Honorary British consul John Rees with members of the Falklands hockey delegation

Success and the brilliant sportsmanship spirit from the Falkland Islands hockey teams, and their trophies, at the Punta Arenas Winter Cup, could not have come with some acid comments from Argentina.

In effect Punta Arenas mayor Claudio Radonich's support of the Falklands participation and display of Islands flags was seriously condemned and questioned by Tierra del Fuego authorities.

Two events spurred complaints from Argentina against the Mayor, the participation of the Falklands in the Cup and the fact that together with Honorary British Consul John Rees, Radonich had a long chat with members of the hockey delegation, when they discussed common interests and the long-standing ties between Punta Arenas and the Falkland Islands. Nothing like sport to bring people together.

But for Argentina it was unbearable, “It's very sad to see how an elected authority of the kindred Chilean people is functional to the British pretension of legitimizing itself in our Islands, in clear opposition to the standing support from the Chilean people, as is the struggle against colonialism since the return of democracy, as is the convincing support policy of our Cause expressed by none else than president Boric”.

Andres Dachary from the Tierra del Fuego government said it was “incomprehensible that Mr. Radonich allows British colonialism to take advantage of him, which is not only Argentina's main national Cause, but that has also been exposed at the United Nations since 1965 with Resolution 2065/65,which the mayor cannot ignore”

Dachary added that today's world does not admit middle terms, “or you fight against colonialism or you are a colonialist, and the Mayor's actions places him in the worst of the two extremes, completely contrary to the spirit of our nations and contradicting its own country's foreign policy, ignoring that it is the Republic of Chile that sponsors Argentina's claim at the UN Decolonization Committee, or C24”.