Falklands Ships Banned

Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have agreed to close their ports to ships flying the flag of the Falklands Islands, a British territory in the South Atlantic claimed by Argentina.

The move was announced on Tuesday at a meeting of the Mercusor trading bloc in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo.

Leaders of the bloc, which also includes landlocked Paraguay, agreed that Falklands-flagged ships “should not dock in Mercosur ports, and if that were to happen, they should not be accepted in another Mercosur port,” said Uruguayan President Jose Mujica.

A statement issued at the end of the summit said member countries would adopt “all measures that can be put in place to impede the entry to its ports of ships that fly the illegal flag of the Malvinas Islands,” referring to the islands by their Argentine name.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner de Fernandez, who took over the presidency of the trade bloc from Mujica, thanked her fellow presidents for the show of support for Buenos Aires’ claim to the archipelago which lies 400 nautical miles from the Argentine coast.

“I want to thank everyone for their immense solidarity with the Malvinas,” Kirchner said in a speech to the summit. “But you should know that when you are signing something on the Malvinas in favour of Argentina you are also doing it in your own defence.”

“Malvinas is not an Argentine cause, it is a global cause, because in the Malvinas they are taking our oil and fishing resources,” she said. “And when there is need for more resources those who are strong are going to look for them wherever and however they can.”

Britain has claimed the Falklands since 1833 and the two countries fought….[Click here to continue reading]