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Caribbean Divided on Malvinas/Falkland Blockade
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Written By: Peter Richards/ipsnews
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Posted Date: 2/9/2012 10:27:58 PM
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Thirty years after England and Argentina went to war over
ownership of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands, tensions have
again been rising. Unlike the 1982 conflict, however, this
time the main bone of contention is oil, local legislators
claim.
Four British oil exploration firms have announced plans to search for
oil around the Falklands, located about 480 kilometres off Argentina.
The oil companies suspect that as much as three times the UK's oil
reserves lie beneath the archipelago, first claimed by Britain in
1820.
"Sadly, Argentina at the moment, probably because we are exploring
for hydrocarbons offshore around the islands, is making life very
difficult indeed," head of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly,
Roger Edwards, told IPS at the start of a visit to several Caribbean
islands.
"They are putting us virtually under an economic blockade. They are
threatening, through presidential decrees, to intercept shipping that
has been trading in the Falkland Islands. They are trying to bring
on board countries around Argentina…to get them on their side
that they also would ban Falkland Island flagged vessels," he added.
Last weekend, delegates to the summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for
the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) in Venezuela
reaffirmed their
commitment to back Argentina in any conflict over the Falkland
Islands.
ALBA, which is President Hugo Chavez's vehicle for closer regional
unity, now joins Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, Argentina's fellow
member-nations in the four-nation MERCOSUR common market, which
imposed the blockade two months ago.
Argentina's foreign minister Héctor Timerman, who was invited to the
ALBA summit, said that London was isolated in its sovereignty claim
over the Malvinas Islands.
"Today in Caracas, it is evident that the Malvinas cause has united
Latin America and the Caribbean," he said, adding "Argentina is not
alone in this. It is actually Great Britain who is alone."
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said Buenos Aires
will lodge a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over
Britain's "militarisation" of the seas surrounding the
Malvinas/Falkland Islands.
"This is a regional and global issue because they are militarising
the South Atlantic once again," Fernández told her cabinet and
military chiefs at the presidential palace earlier this week.
Edwards said that the plan for an embargo did not come as |
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