Argentina will be represented at the coronation ceremonies of Carlos III by the ambassador in London, Javier Figueroa, who was also head of the national State at the funerals of Isabel II, last year.
This degradation in the level of representation in the ceremonies that will take place from tomorrow has several readings.
On the one hand, the obvious contempt that Kirchnerism wants to do to the Crown, to the monarch, who is the head of state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at a time when the government of Alberto Fernández once again placed on
the table the conflict for sovereignty.
Alberto Fernández, in Glasgow, where he traveled with a huge entourage for a climate summit, COP 26. There he demanded financing for developing countries in the face of climate change. Photo of the Presidency
In this case, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero formalized the end of some minimum agreements -some controversial points, and others positive- that had been signed with the British under the administration of Mauricio Macri.
And the islanders were not authorized an extra flight via San Pablo and with a stopover in Córdoba, which had been agreed in 2019, so relations with London and the islands became tense again.
It also maintains a hard pulse with the British over London's provocative decision that, as part of one of its defense agreements within NATO, it sent Kosovar forces to the Falklands for a cooperation and training exercise.
The curious thing is that despite having canceled this joint communiqué from Macri's foreign ministry and that of former Prime Minister Theresa May - which the government called the Foradori-Duncan Pact-, Argentina registered a trade surplus with the United Kingdom and
reached
the maximum of US$562 million in 2022. Meanwhile, total bilateral trade registered an increase of 24.6%, explained both by the increase in Argentine exports (they grew by 21%) and imports.
The sovereignty conflict did not enter commercial trade, since in 2022 it was also positive in favor of Argentina, and had a
year-on-year increase of 10.6% with a new record.
The ambassador of the United Kingdom, Kirsty Hayes, paying tribute to all those who died in the Malvinas war in 2022. The diplomat and Rotary leaders from Buenos Aires and London placed a wreath at the Plaza San Martín Monument, where the Names.
of the 649 Argentines killed in 1982.
Several ministers, such as health, Carla Vizzotti;
and the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, have been in Great Britain, on Cooperation visits.
Alberto Fernández and Cafiero himself were in Glasgow, Scotland, for the climate summit, COP26, in November 2021.
A reading made this Friday by an official source who asked not to be mentioned and critical of the decision that Argentina was underrepresented in the coronation of Carlos III - who was visiting the country and the islands when Carlos Menem governed - said It's about lack of strategic vision.
He said that it is not calculating that the leaders of the whole world - kings and presidents such as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron and the German Frank-Walter Steinmeier - were going to be at these ceremonies centralized in the British capital.
When the Foreign Ministry was consulted about why they did not send a minister or another official to London to accompany Figueroa, they said:
"He is the ambassador. He is the Argentine representation."
They also said that other countries do not send presidents either.
But Joe Biden, who sends his wife Jill, has been to the UK four times;
Luis Lacalle Pou, was also visiting the UK, and now sends his chancellor, Francisco Bustillo.
For his part, Gabriel Boric exceptionally sends his ambassador to the British capital because, it was reported, his entire cabinet is focused on the Constituent Assembly on Sunday in which it could suffer a new crisis.
Boric signed former premier Boric Johnson in 2022, a deal for "the lasting defence".
Thus, but by decision of the Government, Argentina remained
at the same level of representation as the countries that were not invited, such as the presidents Venezuela, Russia, Belarus, Iran, Burma, Afghanistan and Syria.
Nicaragua and North Korea,
which only received invitations for their heads of diplomatic delegation.
The head of state of Argentina was invited.
The Government
not only decided a lower representation than that of the other Latin American countries,
but also decided it is the smallest representation before the coronation of Isabel II.
Juan Perón himself, who had the Malvinas agenda on the rise, but was betting on negotiation and not confrontation, ordered in 1953, at the ascension of the late mother of Carlos III, his vice president, Alberto Teisaire
.
The loyalty of the
islanders
Meanwhile, unlike other overseas territories that are in conflict over their dependence on London, or sought independence, the Malvinenses are extremely loyal to the monarchy.
And they retain their colonial customs.
As reported this Friday by the Mercopress agency, the Governor of the Malvinas Islands and Commissioner of the South Georgia Islands and the South Sandwich Islands, Alison Blake CMG will be at the coronation of Carlos III.
He will do so together with Teslyn Barkman, representative of the Falklands Legislative Assembly and this year president of the Council of the Association of Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom.
Other members of the Islands also traveled. Last year, a visit to the archipelago by Carlos III's sister, Princess Ana, caused strong protests on the Argentine side.
The islanders have their festivities and this Friday the so-called Falkland Islands Forces tweeted to be "ready" for the coronation
.