
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez will lead on Tuesday the commemorations of the 31st anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas war in the Patagonian city of Puerto Madryn.

Pope Francis is scheduled to make his first official visit to Argentina, where he was born, next December ‘to be close to his fellow compatriots’, according to ecclesiastic sources in Buenos Aires. The visit in the first half of December could extend to neighbouring Uruguay and Chile.

The economic-trade relations with Argentina are going through ‘their worst moment in a long time’, and the latest measures announced by the government of President Cristina Fernandez have a ‘very harmful effect’ on Uruguay, said Vice-president Danilo Astori on Friday.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez announced the government is prepared to make imports more flexible in those areas where a few companies have a quasi-monopoly control, but also warned about windfall profiteering.

By James Kirchick (*) - Americans might wonder why they should care about the fate of a tiny set of islands closer to Antarctica than to Florida, where penguins outnumber humans by more than 300 to 1. But the fate of the Falkland Islands — whose citizens expressed a near-unanimous desire to remain part of the United Kingdom this month — will set an important precedent for the universal principle of self-determination

President Cristina Fernandez called an urgent meeting on Wednesday evening of her economic team following a day of hectic trading in the currency exchange market which had the US dollar climb to 8.75 Pesos in the parallel market, expanding the gap with the official rate to almost 70%.

The Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza is sceptical about a possible mediation from Pope Francis between Argentina and the UK over the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute as was requested by President Cristina Fernandez.

The United Kingdom played down the request made by Argentine President Cristina Fernández to Pope Francis to intervene in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty dispute and recalled the recent referendum with an overwhelming support from Islanders to remain a British overseas territory.

Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, came on stage to once again question the Government of President Cristina Fernandez. In an interview with the Spanish media, the dictator said that in case the Kirchnerites try to “perpetuate in power, the armed and security forces along with the people will prevent it.”

Argentine President Cristina Fernández revealed she asked Pope Francis for his “holy intervention” regarding the Falklands/Malvinas case, during the meeting held Monday in the Vatican which was followed by lunch.