The following was published in the Penguin News, “Your Letters” section in response to the Falklands government last week’s release titled “Progress made towards establishing a second commercial Falkland Islands air link”
A team of international scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey set off on Wednesday to explore a mysterious marine ecosystem that has lain hidden under an ice shelf for up to 120,000 years.
Following work undertaken by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in identifying the remains of unidentified Argentine soldiers buried in the Falkland Islands Darwin cemetery, an Argentine private charter will be arriving at Mount Pleasant on Monday March 26.
A statement entitled ‘Progress made towards establishing a second commercial Falkland Islands air link’ released last week by the Falkland Islands Government, but too late for publication in the Penguin News, has met with a mixed reception in the Islands. While some have expressed favor others have reservations and questions as witnessed by readers’ letters in this Friday edition.
Two British diplomats based in Latin America were visiting the Falklands this week, arriving on Sunday on the delayed LATAM flight after enjoying an unexpected one-night stopover in Punta Arenas. Making his second visit to the Falklands was His Excellency Ian Duddy, British Ambassador to Uruguay. He was accompanied by Richard Jones, Second Secretary at the British Embassy in Buenos Aires.
The first of the Royal Navy's next-generation patrol ships set sail from Glasgow on Wednesday for her home port of Portsmouth. HMS Forth is the first of a class of five state-of-the-art Royal Navy vessels, designed for counter-piracy, anti-smuggling, fishery protection, border patrol, counter terrorism and other maritime defense duties.
The next of kin of 103 Argentine combatants fallen during the 1982 Falklands conflict will be travelling to the Islands next 26 March with the purpose of honoring the 88 unknown conscripts, buried at the Darwin cemetery, that were finally identified in a joint effort from the Argentine and British governments, the International Red Cross and consent from Falklands elected authorities.
Sir Gerald Henry Elliot, businessman and philanthropist died, 28 January 2018 in Edinburgh. Gerald Elliot was managing director, and later chairman, of the Edinburgh shipping company Christian Salvesen when it signed a deal with an Argentine scrap merchant, Constantino Davidoff, to have machinery removed from some disused whaling stations it had on the island of South Georgia.
The United Kingdom and Argentina, following on the September 2016 joint communiqué to establish additional air links with the Falkland Islands, jointly announced on Friday that third country airlines interested in such operations will be contacted. It is expected that by the end of February the commercial process will be initiated, led by the Falkland Islands, and sometime next October the new weekly air link, with a monthly call in Argentina, will become operational.
Anger has been expressed in the Falkland Islands this week over a letter which was sent to the Argentine Governor of Tierra del Fuego, Rosana Bertone, by a representative of the National Geographic Foundation. The letter, dated February 8, contains an apology for the appearance of the label ‘Falkland Islands’ instead of ‘Malvinas Islands’ on photos published on Instagram, which were taken here.