Visiting Brazilian political advisor and environmentalist Eduardo Viola emphatically expressed support for the Falkland Islands’ right of self-determination during a press conference in Stanley with other visiting Brazilian colleagues, reports this week's edition of Penguin News.
A majority of Uruguayans, 55%, believe their country must support Argentina's sovereignty claims over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands but an overwhelming 80% also want closer trade links with the Islands and reject the ban on Falklands flagged vessels to operate from Montevideo or other Uruguayan ports. In both cases neutral opinions range 11% and 12%.
The cross-party delegation of Uruguayan parliamentarians currently visiting the Falkland Islands appear quite unmoved by what their leader Jaime Trobo described as the “dust storm” that their visit had created both at home in Uruguay and in neighbouring Argentina.
Vice-president Danilo Astori admitted on Friday that economic-trade relations with Argentina continue to deteriorate and seriously question Mercosur and Uruguay must therefore speed the search for other alternatives.
Falkland Islanders preparing to exercise their right to self-determination in a landmark democratic vote next March were pledged overwhelming support by the Falkland Islands Association at its annual general meeting in London on Saturday presided over by its chairman, Mr Alan Huckle, a former Governor of the Islands.
Lawmaker Jan Check is “cautiously optimistic” about the future of the Falkland Islands despite Argentina’s blockade and attempts to wreck the Islands economy, but if development continues to thrive, some neighbours will think twice before continuing to support the aggressive policy of President Cristina Fernandez towards the disputed South Atlantic Islands.
The Falkland Islands don’t expect Argentina to accept the results of the coming referendum, but will show the rest of the world, particularly South and Central America that the Islands are a democracy and have the right to self determination, said Falklands’ lawmakers in an interview with the Mexican newspaper Excelsior.
The Argentine blockade can’t stop the Falkland Islands and “if Argentina believes that these aggressions are going to change the mind and spirit of the Islanders, they are dead wrong, much on the contrary”, said Falklands’ lawmakers currently visiting Guatemala on a tour of Central America and Mexico.