President Cristina Fernandez said Argentina will seek to re-negotiate the 1999 accord with the UK which allows for a weekly flight connecting the Falklands Islands and Chile, and replace it with three schedules a week but from Buenos Aires and in the country’s flag carrier, Aerolineas Argentinas.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry suggested in an official Wednesday release that “the EU and the Union of South American nations (UNASUR) analyze the Malvinas islands conflict and urge both countries (UK and Argentina) to negotiate”.
A several million pounds EU aid program to help Argentina should be halted until the country stops threatening Britain over the Falkland Islands, said member of the European parliament Nerj Deva.
Argentina's top diplomat in Britain was summoned to London's Foreign Office on Wednesday to explain his country's decision to ask 20 leading companies to stop importing British products and supplies.
The Union of South American Nations, Unasur presidents have been invited by Argentina to a ceremony in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, next 2 April when the official beginning of the Malvinas war three decades ago.
Former Pink Floyd lead singer Roger Waters, who has nine shows scheduled in Buenos Aires at the River Plate stadium this March, assured that the Malvinas Islands “belong to Argentina. He also stated that the 1982 war between Argentina and the UK “saved then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s political career.”
The Buenos Aires media, basically the ambito.com site reports that Argentine industry and business leaders were contacted by the Ministry of Industry which tried to persuade them from buying British supplies.
The law was ‘misinterpreted’ and “the authorization awarded to cruise vessels by the (Argentine) Foreign Affairs ministry was ignored”, claimed the president of Ushuaia Chamber of Tourism Marcelo Lietti reacting to the weekend decision to bar two red ensign cruises from entering Tierra del Fuego.
The British government has said it is a source of ”sadness and frustrated” that Argentina decided to turn away British tourists wishing to visit Argentina as a result of the ongoing row over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
President Cristina Fernández rejected the possibility that a delegation of Argentine sportsmen may not fly to London to attend the 2012 Olympics as part of an Argentine boycott in response to the United Kingdom’s refusal to discuss the Malvinas Islands sovereignty.