Natasha Niebieskikwiat
09/04/2021 10:42
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 09/04/2021 11:11
Weeks ago, the Argentine ambassador to Uruguay, Alberto Iribarne, sent a letter to an eastern legislator to correct her because she had spread a tweet to greet the Malvinas for one of their anniversary:
#HappyFalklandsDay
, she had written. The truth is that these types of wishes, with the same British toponymy and which Argentines are suspicious of, are usually
also
written
from Chile.
On paper,
all neighboring countries support the claim of sovereignty over the islands of Argentina.
But in fact
, they maintain a close relationship with the islanders.
Now, while the governments of Argentina and Chile are fighting over the continental shelf in the seas south of Tierra del Fuego,
a UK company is
building a deepwater megaport in the archipelago's capital, which will compete in logistics and technology at the port terminal of Ushuaia.
The complex construction in the South Atlantic is in the hands of the firm
BAM Nuttal Ltd, of the Royal Bam group.
It works in partnership with the government of the archipelago in a strategic area not only for fishing in the South Atlantic, with boats from all over the world.
03-19 A ship unloads fuel off Port Stanley, Malvinas.
Photo: Andres D'Elia
It is the transit of a unique marine fauna on the planet.
But it also points to the latent desire of the islanders to find commercially viable oil.
After the great exploration operations of the 1990s, smaller companies are still searching today.
The new port of Malvinas is also planned
for tourist cruises and scientific and Antarctic expeditions,
where both Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom have overlapping claims.
The old port of Malvinas, built in 1984, which will be dismantled
There are many other interests in the area, from Russians, Norwegians, Chinese. Argentina has geographic dominance. But its Argentine technicians, military and tour operators operate with great difficulties due to economic problems and local obstacles. Furthermore, Argentines become entangled in their desire to build a logistics hub in Ushuaia. This does not advance and the debate is locked on whether or not it will be done with Chinese capital.
The new fight between Argentina and Chile for just over 5000 kilometers southeast of Cape Horn rekindled the importance of the port. The conflict deepened a week ago when President Sebastián Piñera delimited his continental shelf of 200 nautical miles in that area. Argentina had extended its platform by law in 2020. And it is possible that, if they do not resolve their differences through diplomatic dialogue, the two neighbors will
have to face each other in an arbitration court.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of August, the Chilean Foreign Ministry also protested against parts of the text of Argentina's new defense policy, which is awarded joint exercises in Magellanic areas that Chile recalled were its own. And in that protest, the Chileans also said that international law stipulates free navigation in the Malvinas, Georgia and South Sandwich areas. It is a preview of the conflicts that can be generated by the claim of Argentine sovereignty when the new Malvinas port terminal generates more traffic.
The authorities of Tierra del Fuego, a province that by national law has jurisdiction of Malvinas, South Georgia and Antarctica, protested against the construction of the Falkland Islands port terminal, which
the kelpers want to have working by 2024.
Their plans are for it to replace the built port after the Anglo-Argentine war of 1982, and known by its initials FIPASS. This is almost obsolete. It will be on the outskirts of Puerto Argentino / Stanley, near the one being dismantled.
Opposition lawmakers also protested.
For the case, the Fuegian senator Pablo Daniel Blanco demanded that the Executive together with a group of parliamentarians from Together for Change, demanded that the Executive know
"what degree of knowledge" the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense have about this port.
And he demanded to know what the national government is doing to stop the project.
The secretary of the Malvinas Area Daniel Filmus, had said that it was "illegal and illegitimate" and pointed out that the issue was included in the complaint due to "non-compliance with UN resolution 3149", which maintains that either party should refrain from any kind of action in the area.
For his part, FIG Chief Executive Barry Rowland said a new port was "an indispensable asset" to support the economy and enable ongoing future economic growth in the Falkland Islands. The islands, whose highest income comes from fishing, announced that they were acquiring their first sovereign loan of 85 million dollars for the construction of the port, whose physical construction will be part of the third part of the project.
The pandemic hit the islands economy hard, especially due to the lack of tourists. For that matter, the islands are still without the two Latam flights that they maintained before the pandemic. One weekly from Santiago de Chile, with a regular stop in Punta Arenas and monthly in Río Gallegos, and another from San Pablo, Brazil, to Mount Pleasant, with a monthly stop in the city of Córdoba.
