By Jimmy Burns (*) - This is the same President that has viewed Jorge Bergoglio as an opponent when he served as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires and has allowed her allies in the Argentine media to try and wreck his reputation by claiming, unjustly, he was complicit in the military regime’s dirty war.
The Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza is sceptical about a possible mediation from Pope Francis between Argentina and the UK over the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute as was requested by President Cristina Fernandez.
The United Kingdom played down the request made by Argentine President Cristina Fernández to Pope Francis to intervene in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty dispute and recalled the recent referendum with an overwhelming support from Islanders to remain a British overseas territory.
Writing for Penguin News its Deputy Editor, John Fowler, takes stock in the wake of the recent referendum in the Falkland Islands which resulted in a 92%turn out and 99.8% of voters opting to maintain the Islands current status as an overseas territory of Great Britain.
The Pope has no reason to intervene in the Falklands/Malvinas dispute, since the Vatican is not an international tribunal and there is no imminence of a war, according to Rodolfo Terragno an Argentine lawyer and former head of cabinet, minister and congressman.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández revealed she asked Pope Francis for his “holy intervention” regarding the Falklands/Malvinas case, during the meeting held Monday in the Vatican which was followed by lunch.
The Falkland Islands have spoken, and have spoken clearly and loud for all countries in the world to listen, said Ian Hansen, member of the elected Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly currently on a tour of Caribbean countries to deliver the message from the March 10/11 referendum.
The following editorial on the Falkland Islands issue was published by the United Arab Emirates Gulf News.
The referendum by the 2,500 inhabitants of the British-administered Falkland Islands has not contributed to finding a political solution to the dispute between Britain and Argentina that has run for centuries.
Canada’s Globe and Mail had an editorial on the Falklands referendum.
Not since the halcyon days of the Soviet Union has a vote been so lopsided, but there was no fraud or coercion. Ninety-two per-cent turnout; over 98% support for the Falkland Islands to retain its status as a British Overseas Territory.
John Carlin, the British writer and journalist who works for Spain’s leading newspaper El Pais, with a high degree of irony strongly criticized Argentina’s claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands as an ‘epic idiocy’.