
UN John J. Metzler(*) Reversing the trend of economic mismanagement, ending a fifteen year debt impasse with foreign lenders, calming a percolating political crisis over the disputed Falkland/Malvinas islands in the South Atlantic, and overcoming the image of unpredictability, Argentina’s new conservative government faces serious obstacles in reintroducing Argentina to an often skeptical world.

Ocean Rig UDW Inc. has officially announced that two of its drilling contracts have been terminated, one of them in the Falkland Islands where its Eirik Raude was working for Premier Oil as the main operator. Ocean Rig is demanding a termination fee of several million dollars and in case Premier Oil contests the payment, we intend to commence arbitration proceedings.

Falkland Islands based company, Argos Resources Ltd. said it has received notification from Noble Energy, the operator of license PL001 in which Argos holds a 5% overriding royalty interest, that it is exercising its rights to declare Force Majeure on the well.

Chile's flag carrier Lan is celebrating this week the seven decades of its first commercial flight between Santiago and Punta Arenas, extreme south of the country, opening the region to closer trade, tourism and investment opportunities. Actually Lan in the thirties and forties, when the company was first starting did in effect make regional flights from Punta Arenas to nearby places mostly on rough landing strips.

Four Argentine amateur swimmers have been training for over a year preparing for the crossing of the Falklands' Sound which separates the two main islands, West from East Falkland. The purpose of the crossing is to bring attention on the 'delayed' process of identifying the remains of Argentine soldiers buried in the Falklands under a headstone that reads Argentine soldier, known only to God.

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon is scheduled to visit the Falkland Islands this week, the first such visit in over a decade. However the timing of the visit has caused some irritation with the Foreign Office, according to the London media, since it could interfere with the current approach with the new Argentine administration.

Fishing for Illex squid in Falkland’s water took off on Sunday, as the 2016 fishing season opens. A total of 105 fishing licenses have been issued. The number of licenses issued has remained consistent for the past three seasons.

Rockhopper Exploration flagship project, offshore the Falkland Islands the Sea Lion oil field development, continues to advance despite the recent slump in crude prices.

By Jaime Trobo (*) - For some time now we have been arguing that Uruguay must strengthen its bonds and contacts with a neighboring territory, in the southern cone, part of our American continent, where families who arrived in our region during the first half of the XIX century live, and with whom those contacts, once very intense, have waned, particularly in the last decades.

The United Kingdom will not change current policy on the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, according to the UK Ambassador to Spain Simon J. Manley, confirming London's stance on the Islands sovereignty.