UN British ambassador warned Argentina on Friday that Britain would “robustly” defend the Falkland Islands if necessary, but added that his country remained open to bilateral talks with Buenos Aires on any issue except the Islands' sovereignty.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced hope that Argentina and the United Kingdom can avoid escalating their dispute over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) and resolve their differences through dialogue.
The Argentine government sees with good eyes that a Uruguayan trade delegation travelled to the Falklands/Malvinas in spite of the ‘dialectic conflict’ with the UK over the sovereignty of the Islands, said the Argentine ambassador in Montevideo, Dante Dovena.
The government of Antigua and Barbuda by way of a press statement issued Wednesday, disassociated the Caribbean nation from statements made in the wake of the recent Eleventh ALBA summit, which were carried in the local, regional and international press, about a ban on Falkland Islands-flagged ships.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez gave instructions for the formal complaint before the United Nations accusing the United Kingdom of ‘militarization’ of the South Atlantic and Malvinas Islands be presented on Friday, according to a release from the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
United States insisted that the Falklands/Malvinas dispute is a ‘bilateral’ issue between Argentina and the UK and again called on Buenos Aires and London to solve the issue peacefully, through dialogue.
One hundred members of the Chilean population living in the Falkland Islands were joined by 50 to 60 Islanders in a show of unity against the possibility that the weekly Lan Chile flight between Santiago and the Falklands might be discontinued at the request of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday no one should doubt his determination to keep the Falkland Islands British as he dismissed President Cristina Fernández announced complaint to the United Nations.
Jorge Lanata is one of Argentina’s most famous and fierce journalists, feared by politicians and union leaders, famous for uncovering corruption and confronting the sacred cows of the country’s establishment. This week he made some controversial comments about the Malvinas Islands which rocked the whole country.
Argentina has no more claim to the Falklands than Canada does to Alaska Giving the Falkland Islands to Argentina makes as much sense as giving Alaska to Canada: none whatsoever, says George Grant.