“Any jurisdictional acts coming from Malvinas is invalid for us” and therefore Malvinas flagged vessels are barred from Uruguayan ports, a decision which is extensive to all Unasur members, said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro.
Mercosur member countries meeting in Montevideo for their regular six-month summit are drafting a resolution that would bar Falklands’ flagged vessels from all Mercosur members’ ports, following on the traditional Argentine policy and now openly supported by the Uruguayan government.
Falkland Islands fishing companies association, FIFCA expressed their “extreme disappointment” with Uruguay’s decision not to allow Falklands’ flagged vessels enter the port of Montevideo, which “will only serve to punish its own people”.
Surprise and perplexity has surfaced from the Falkland Islands following the announcement by President Jose Mujica that Falklands’ flagged vessels are barred from Uruguayan ports.
Uruguayan President José Mujica changed his mind and will attend Argentine President Cristina Fernández inauguration ceremony next Saturday, official sources confirmed.
Brazil’s Foreign Affairs minister Antonio Patriota said Brasilia supports Uruguay in its controversy with France following President Nicholas Sarkozy claim, at the recent G20 summit, that Uruguay was a ‘fiscal haven’.
The Mexican president underlined the strategic importance of Uruguay since it is the only Mercosur member that has a free trade agreement with Mexico, thus making it the ‘strategic partner’ of Mexico in Mercosur.
Uruguay received a huge political boost from Mexico (the same it was denied from its Mercosur partners under influence from Argentina) in its dispute with the recent G20 summit which through spokesperson French president Nicholas Sarkozy described Uruguay as a ‘fiscal haven’.
A top Uruguayan official said the country has the support of Brazil regarding the controversy triggered when President Nicholas Sarkozy as host and ‘rapporteur’ of the recent G20 summit named Uruguay in the list of the world’s most notorious fiscal havens.
The governments of Uruguay and Argentina have decided to ignore the controversy born out of statements from former President Tabare Vazquez who said that during the Botnia-UPM pulp plant conflict, back in 2006/07, he did not discard a “war hypothesis” given the aggressive attitude of Argentina and for which he had requested support from the Bush administration.