Argentine President Cristina Fernández left the 6th Summit of the Americas held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, before the official closing meeting allegedly in protest against a lack of regional support for Argentina’s claims in the Falklands/Malvinas dispute with the UK.
The Panama flagged cruise vessel M/V Ushuaia is expected to arrive early next week in South Georgia to pick up the stranded 114 passengers and crew of a similar small cruise M/V Plancius which after experiencing serious propulsion trouble took shelter at King Edward Point Research Station in Grytviken.
UK Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) team is heading to the South Atlantic island of St Helena to survey the wreck of a tanker sunk by a German U-boat in World War Two.
Retired Royal Marine Brigadier Ian Gardiner, who commanded a Marine company in the 1982 Falklands war, thinks a new Argentine attack on the Islands is unlikely.
Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas will be addressed during the Sixth Summit of the Americas this weekend in Colombia, where 33 heads of state and government are scheduled to meet, said Colombian Foreign Affairs minister Maria Angela Holguin.
Argentines give more importance than the British to the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty issue, according to the first public opinion on the matter done simultaneously in both countries involved.
The coming 6th Summit of the Americas will not include in its final statement the issue of the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, the sovereignty of which is in dispute between Argentina and the UK.
The UK is seeking repayment of a loan granted to Argentina in 1979 which was invested in military procurement some of which was used during the Falkland Islands conflict.
British oil giant BP will not be involved in exploration or production activities in the Falkland Islands, according to the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry which just a few days ago sent threatening letters to oil industry and financial corporations which could be working or assessing in the disputed South Atlantic waters.
The Argentine government said that the Malvinas Islands sovereignty claim is “not political opportunism” or geared “to remove other issues from the country’s political agenda” and is coherent with the political and ideological thinking of both Presidents Cristina Fernandez and her late husband and former president Nestor Kirchner.