A delegation of Argentine lawmakers headed by the presidents of the foreign affairs committees from the Senate, Daniel Filmus and Lower House, Guillermo Carmona are currently in Dublin where they will discuss with their peers and Irish authorities Argentina’s position in the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute.
Argentina reaffirmed on Monday its “inalienable right” over the Malvinas and other South Atlantic Islands, and its “strong will to promptly restart negotiations with the United Kingdom” over the what it considers to be an “unacceptable and anachronic colonial situation”. Argentina also complains about the March referendum held in the Falklands last March.
Latinamerican countries expressed on Thursday their full support for Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas, during the 43 annual assembly of the Organization of American States taking place in Guatemala. Only Canada was against the OAS final declaration while the United States did not take position on the matter.
Lawmaker Jaime Trobo invited his peers in the Lower House to review the Uruguayan government’s position regarding the Malvinas Islands and without questioning Argentine sovereignty, establish close trade and human links with the Islanders, as in the past, eliminating the ‘sanitary ring’ imposed by the current Argentine government.
“The Malvinas Islands are not only Argentine, they are Latinamerica”, said Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa who claimed it was time to put an end to the ‘colonial situation’ of the disputed Islands in the South Atlantic and blasted the Organization of American States, OAS for dragging its feet on this and other crucial issues for the continent.
An expert in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands dispute and professional diplomat has been accepted as the new Argentine ambassador in Ireland. Silvia Maria Merega has held important posts at the Organization of American States in Washington, before the European Union and at the Argentine embassy in the US.
An Argentine delegation involved in human rights that in early May visited the Falkland Islands is optimistic about the possibility of advancing in the identification of the remains of Argentine soldiers buried as unknown in unmarked graves at the Darwin cemetery.
Argentina questioned the UK after its negative vote at the United Nations General Assembly to place French Polynesia back on the UN list of non autonomous territories that should be decolonised Additionally Argentina renewed its claim over the Falkland Islands sovereignty and described the UK attitude, ‘colonial hypocrisy’.
A senior British member of Parliament blasted as ‘outrageous’ claims that the European Parliament does not recognize British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. The case first surfaced when MercoPress reported that a Spanish member of the European parliament on a recent visit to Argentina said that “British sovereignty over the Islands as such is not accepted”.
“British sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands as such is not accepted by the European Parliament”, according to a visiting delegation of EU lawmakers who met with their Argentine peers in Buenos Aires.