January was the busiest month of the tourist season for South Georgia with 13 visits from cruise ships; in the second week of the month seven cruise ships visited. There were also visits by the Fishery Patrol Vessel, research vessels, and a large motor yacht, reports the latest editions of the South Georgia Newsletter.
The Argentine government demands to control the Falkland Islands against the wishes of the people who live there are fundamentally incompatible with modern democratic values and attempts to intimidate the Islanders must cease, said Foreign Secretary William Hague in an update to Parliament.
Under the heading of “Malvinas: British” the influential Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo describes the 99.8% result of the Falklands referendum as a “compelling defeat” for the Argentine government and a litigation hard to sustain when international law rests more on the peoples’ perspective than in the historic, real or imaginary territorial possession.
The government of President Cristina Fernandez is furious with the Brazil-based Vale mining company for suspending its 6 billion dollars potash development in Mendoza, the largest investment in Argentina in recent years.
The Canadian government said on Wednesday that the results of the Falkland Islands referendum are “very clear” and “only” the people of the Islands are entitled to decide on their future. However the European Commission refused to get involved in the discussion arguing it is an “internal affair” of an EU member.
Argentine consumer prices rose 0.5% in February, the smallest gain since June 2009, after supermarkets and home appliance retailers agreed to freeze prices for sixty days, according to the government’s much questioned stats office, Indec.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández will be attending the official ceremony installing Jorge Ramon Bergoglio as Francis I which is scheduled to take place next March 19. The announcement was made by the presidential office.
“President Cristina Fernandez, we have sent you a message: we have absolutely no desire to be ruled by the Government in Buenos Aires and we hope that now you might respect that”, said the spokesperson for the Falklands’ elected government in the aftermath of the referendum which showed the Islanders almost unanimously (99.8% of ballots) want to remain a British Overseas Territory.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández rejected the referendum held at the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, and assured it was a parody likening to a “squatters’ condominium meeting” who illegally live in an occupied territory.
The Argentine congress is holding on Wednesday an extraordinary session to strongly reject the resounding Falklands/Malvinas referendum in which the Islanders overwhelmingly voted to remain a British Overseas Territory. Two statements have been drafted and will be discussed simultaneously at the Lower House and the Senate.