Pope Francis has picked the 55-year-old Bishop of Río Gallegos Jorge García Cuerva to become the new Archbishop of Buenos Aires after Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli submitted his resignation due to his age. Poli succeeded Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he became Pope in 2013.
Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Taiana said the Malvinas Islands were to be restored “sooner rather than later... to its legitimate owners.” He made those remarks to veterans from the 1982 war attending the reopening of the Air Force's Base in Rìo Gallegos, from where converted training IA-63 Pampa III jets with fighting capabilities will “monitor and control” the South Atlantic enclave. The unit had not had combat aircraft since 1996.
“A historic event” is how Guillermo Carmona, the Argentine Secretary for Malvinas, South Atlantic islands, and Antarctica affairs described the confirmed resumption of the weekly air link between Punta Arenas in Chile and the Falkland Islands, with a monthly stop over at Rio Gallegos in Santa Cruz province.
Following the announcement made on 7 April 2022, the air link between the Falkland Islands and Chile will resume on Saturday 2 July 2022. LATAM flight schedules will be reinstated with flights stopping in Punta Arenas and Santiago, and once a month stopping in Rio Gallegos.
Aerolíneas Argentinas has announced the resumption of the so-called “Atlantic Corridor” starting in July.
Argentina has requested the resumption of flights between the mainland and the Falkland Islands twice a month after the service carried out by LATAM Airlines was halted amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Monday mid-afternoon Argentine air force fighter planes overflew Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province capital and the Beagle Channel, as part of training exercises in Patagonia and which are expected to continue for the next two days. The Fighting Hawk McDonald Douglas A-4R jets are based in Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz province.
Santa Cruz province in the extreme south of Argentina imposed strict circulation and reunion restrictions plus a suspension of all activities in Rio Gallegos following an outbreak of coronavirus in the provincial capital, according to local media reports.
On Wednesday, April first, the Bishop of Río Gallegos, Bishop Jorge García Cuerva, presided over a Eucharistic celebration in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the first Mass celebrated on what would later be Argentine soil.
The Argentine media has revealed some additional details about the coming weekly airlink between the Falkland Islands and the South American continent, scheduled to begin “sometime in the second half of November”.