Latin America

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 17:25 UTC

  “Falkland Islands don’t want to join Argentina”

  

  From Monday's Globe and Mail (*)
  The Falkland Islands, a windswept archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, are a British Overseas Territory, and have been since 1833. The 3,000 inhabitants of this Island are proud to be British subjects, and no amount of Argentine huffing or puffing will change that.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 17:23 UTC

  ARA Belgrano was heading to the Falklands, secret papers reveal

  

  By Thomas Harding, The Telegraph Defense Correspondent. The following article referred to the major naval incident of the Falklands’ conflict was published Monday 26 December. Top secret papers are set to prove that the warship ARA Belgrano was heading into the Falkland's exclusion zone when it was sunk in May 1982, and not heading back to port as the Argentines claimed.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 11:18 UTC

  The Guardian: “Britain is asleep over Argentina and the Falklands”

  

  In a piece published last week in London daily The Guardian, and referred to the recent Mercosur support for Argentina in the Falkland Islands dispute, Richard Gott argues that a new scenario has emerged with South America growing in strength, increasingly united and no longer looking to Europe for support and advice which means a different framework for the Falkland Islands s sovereignty dispute.

• Saturday, December 24th 2011 - 03:47 UTC

  Merry Christmas from MercoPress

  

  MercoPress wishes a happy holiday season to all its readers.

• Friday, December 23rd 2011 - 18:27 UTC

  Barring Falklands’ flagged vessels in “more symbolic than anything else”, says Uruguay port authority

  

  Mercosur latest decision to bar all Falkland Islands flagged vessels from entering its ports is “more symbolic” than anything else because a change of flag is enough, according to Uruguay’s Ports Authority, ANP President Alberto Díaz.

• Friday, December 23rd 2011 - 04:39 UTC

  “We can never accept the Argentine government’s challenge to Falklands self-determination”

  

  “We will always maintain our commitment to you on any question of sovereignty because your right to self-determination is the cornerstone of our policy”, said British Prime Minister David Cameron in his Christmas message to the Falkland Islands.

• Friday, December 23rd 2011 - 04:36 UTC

  UK Defence denies London press rumours of a Falklands military build-up

  

  After statements published by the English newspaper “The Daily Mail,” in which the former head of the Navy, Lord Alan West, said that a nuclear submarine should be sent to the Malvinas Islands, the United Kingdom assured it does not plan to increase the military presence in the Islands.

• Thursday, December 22nd 2011 - 20:59 UTC

  Uruguay Navy says there is no legal impediment for Falklands’ flagged vessels to operate in Montevideo

  

  A report from the Uruguayan Coast Guard argues there is no legislation impeding Falklands/Malvinas flagged vessels from operating in the port of Montevideo. The report was handed to the Uruguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is drafting a protocol regarding what ships can and which can’t access Uruguayan ports.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2011 - 05:58 UTC

  “Malvinas is a global cause” because it involves the grabbing of natural resources

  

  “Malvinas is not an Argentine cause, it’s a global cause because they are taking our fisheries and oil resources” said Argentine president Cristina Fernandez on taking the Mercosur rotating chair for the next six months.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2011 - 05:53 UTC

  Mercosur supports Argentina: bans access to all Falklands/Malvinas flagged vessels

  

  Mercosur member countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) finally agreed Tuesday to close its ports to ships flying the flag of the disputed Falkland/Malvinas Islands, announced Uruguay's president at the closing of the group’s two-day summit in Montevideo.