By David Usborne - The following piece published by The Independent reveals the contents of a letter delivered by the British ambassador to the UN, Sir Mark Lyall Grant to UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon rebutting Argentine historic arguments on which Buenos Aires supports its sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Argentine president Cristina Fernandez are expected to visit Chile in the near future as pressure mounts on the conservative government of President Sebastian Piñera because of the ongoing UK/Argentina diplomatic dispute over the Faklands/Malvinas issue.
Vice President Amado Boudou brushed aside ‘Repsol-YPF nationalization rumours’ and said Argentina is interested in oil companies that make long term investments and don’t fall prey of short term financial profits.
The rumours of a constitutional amendment in Argentina which could include a re-re-election review privileging a possible third consecutive mandate for President Cristina Fernandez have again resurfaced and this time by a close confident of the Kirchner family.
The new trade barriers enforced by the Argentine government are “insignificant, nothing to worry about,” Uruguayan president José Mujíca said to a Montevideo newspaper insisting that the best path is ‘dialogue’ dismounting each obstacle ‘step by step’.
Argentine Defence minister Arturo Puricelli described UK’s announcement to send state of the art and latest incorporation to the Royal Navy HMS Dauntless, and according to the London press a nuclear powered submersible, to the disputed Falklands/Malvinas Islands as “an unnecessary ostentation of fire power”
The Argentine organized labour CGT umbrella union leader Hugo Moyano once again blasted the government insisting he doesn’t understand the “fine-tuning” metaphor that President Cristina Fernández used to refer to subsidy cuts.
Argentine auto sales rose 8.2% in January from a year earlier to 112,607 units, the car dealers’ association Acara said in an e-mailed report on Friday. January’s sales were 43.5% more than December’s, the report said.
Argentina has cut 461 million dollars in annual tax breaks granted as investment incentives to big oil companies operating in the country, the government said on Friday, as part of a wider austerity program.
Following on Argentina’s track the Brazilian government created a special unit to monitor and control imports in the framework of the country’s new trade policy implemented by the administration of President Dilma Rousseff.