On Tuesday, September 13, 2016, the Argentine Foreign Ministry reported (IP 304/16) that " The Minister of State for Europe and the Americas of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Alan Duncan, paid a visit to Argentina, holding meetings with national authorities and participating in the Investment and Business Forum, organized by Argentina."
The then Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra " granted an audience with Sir Duncan, reflecting the improvement in relations between Argentina and the United Kingdom and, during her visit, both parties committed to putting emphasis on the positive agenda of relations with the aim of further strengthening bilateral ties, developing closer ties and solid cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of both countries."
« Vice Foreign Minister Foradori and Minister Duncan held a working meeting where they reviewed the main issues on the bilateral agenda. The bilateral meeting allowed both officials to continue promoting an all-encompassing, multidimensional and multisectoral agenda based on complementarity between the two nations and aimed at strengthening bilateral relations…It was agreed to work together to identify new areas of collaboration and resolved to seek to expand bilateral relations around a positive agenda that addresses global challenges in areas such as democracy, human rights, cooperation in international peace and security, non-proliferation, the environment and climate change, clean energy, trade and investment, science, technology and innovation, tourism and sport.»
« The areas of possible cooperation in Antarctic matters were evaluated, including exchanges, joint activities and agreements between the scientific programs of the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA) and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), as well as the development of joint scientific activities in the area of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).»
« In a positive spirit, both Parties agreed to establish a dialogue to enhance cooperation on all South Atlantic issues of mutual interest . Both Governments agreed that the sovereignty formula of paragraph 2 of the Joint Declaration of 19 October 1989 applies to this Joint Communiqué and all its consequences. In this context, it was agreed to adopt appropriate measures to remove all obstacles limiting the economic growth and sustainable development of the Malvinas Islands, including trade, fishing, navigation and hydrocarbons .»
« In accordance with the principles set out in the Joint Declaration of 14 July 1999 and the Agreement by Exchange of Notes, both Parties agreed that additional air connections would be established between the Malvinas Islands and third countries. In this context, they agreed to the establishment of two additional monthly stops in mainland Argentina, one in each direction. The specific details will be defined.»
" Both Parties expressed their full support for the DNA identification process in relation to the unidentified Argentine soldiers buried in Darwin Cemetery. Discussions on this sensitive humanitarian issue will be carried out in Geneva on the basis of an assessment by the International Committee of the Red Cross, complemented by any necessary bilateral discussions. Both Parties agreed that the wishes of the families involved are of the utmost importance."
We, after several critical articles about this Agreement, on May 7, 2022, published " Neither drunk nor asleep, pacting with the enemy " referring to the Foradori-Duncan Pact, because Minister Alan Duncan wrote in his memoirs that, at the time of the aforementioned Pact, the Argentine Vice-Chancellor " Carlos Foradori was so drunk that the next day he could not remember the details of the document " (Télam, 04/26/2022) and we said that the British have been advancing on our island and maritime territories for more than 40 years. In 1982 they occupied 11,410 km2 and for many years they have invaded 1,639,900 km2, equivalent to 50% of the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone; This is without considering the more than 1.4 million km2 of the Continental Shelf that we dispute and the more than 1 million km2 of Antarctica and its corresponding waters.
On that occasion we indicated that according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) “The harmful use of alcohol challenges the social and economic development of many countries, including those in the Americas, where consumption is approximately 40% higher than the world average. In general, this population consumes alcohol in a pattern that is dangerous to health, as well as domestic violence, loss of productivity, and many hidden costs” (www.paho.org/es/temas/alcohol). Perhaps, within these hidden costs , the PAHO could have considered the probable negative effects of alcohol on the decisions of high diplomats; but we do not believe that this is - at least the only cause - but rather the repeated desire to reach agreements without any compensation.
To rule out the question of alcohol once and for all, let us bear in mind that the agreement would have been very laborious, since Vice-Chancellor Foradori would have entered the cellar of the British Embassy on September 12 and sealed the pact, on the fateful Tuesday morning of the 13th.
In reality, no one in their right mind or who did not have a mandate to promote British interests in the Malvinas could agree to "adopt appropriate measures to remove all obstacles that limit economic growth and sustainable development of the Malvinas Islands, including trade, fishing, navigation and hydrocarbons." A true unconditional cession; a definitive surrender of the exercise of full sovereignty over the Malvinas and a clear violation of the First Transitory Provision of the Constitution.
It should be noted that this Pact, disguised as a so-called “ Joint Communiqué ”, is an Agreement, since its text refers to the word “agree” seven times, and is the “de facto” ratification of the Madrid Agreements and the Umbrella formula, and it could be interpreted that the repeated request for dialogue demanded by the Argentine Foreign Ministry is being carried out by the United Kingdom, to the point that Argentina promises to remove all obstacles to the development of the Malvinas.
Similarly, the United Kingdom continues to grant illegal fishing licenses to third countries in violation of United Nations Res. 31/49 without Argentina taking legal action against the licensed companies, for violation of laws 24,922 (1998) and 27,564 (2020) and in some cases of Law 26,386, which prevents companies based on the Argentine mainland from operating in the Malvinas and, this means, the annual extraction of Argentine fishing resources in the order of 250,000 tons, valued without any process at about one billion dollars.
On the other hand, the Argentine Foreign Ministry authorized flights to Sao Paulo from the Islands, which would open the doors to a market of more than 30 million inhabitants with great purchasing power, in addition to the distribution to the world of all products from this important Brazilian State, adding new flights to those already operated by Latam from the Malvinas to Chile and vice versa.
Likewise, the granting (2019) of an area with more than 100 thousand km2 for offshore hydrocarbon exploitation in the Malvinas Basin, between the archipelagos and the Argentine continent, to oil companies of British origin and/or that have intervened in exploitations in the Malvinas, in open violation of Law 26.659 (Solanas Law), such as Shell, BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd; Tullow Oil and Equinor, as well as the latter off the coast of Mar del Plata, remains in force.
The Antarctic cooperation agreement also constitutes an act of recognition of the unacceptable British position. It is interesting to transcribe in this regard what Professor Armando Abruza said: regarding these agreements "on scientific research in sub-Antarctic waters surrounding the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, instead of doing so within the multilateral framework of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which constitutes the only legal regime validly applicable in that region. In this matter, it is also appropriate to highlight the technique used in drafting the text of the Joint Communiqué, which, as has been stated, reveals the British authorship of the document, verifiable in this specific case from its design… Any concession that the Argentine Government could make in the matters previously indicated, without promptly resuming negotiations on sovereignty and without any substantive consideration in return, as indisputably occurred throughout the 1990s and well into the current century, would be incompatible with the First Transitory Provision of the National Constitution and harmful to the interests of the Nation. (“The Argentine-British Joint Communiqué…” p. 89:116 Arg Yearbook of International Law, 2016).
The Foradori-Duncan Pact was suspended during Alberto Fernández's dying government; we criticise this because it left numerous issues pending, in addition to the Madrid Agreements I and II.
Since her assumption of office, the Foreign Minister Diana Mondino has repeatedly shown sympathy with the British and the islanders occupying the Malvinas Islands, assigning rights to the latter as if they were a party to the Malvinas Question, violating the mandate of the First Transitory Provision of the National Constitution, in addition to not making the corresponding claims before the different forums and ignoring the repeated violations of our unredeemed territories by the British and their armed forces.
If there was one thing missing for Minister Mondino, it was the appointment of Ambassador Carlos Foradori in Geneva, thereby endorsing the actions of the Argentine government in 2016 and ratifying at the recent Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Argentina and the United Kingdom, through the Press Release on the Malvinas Question of 24/9/24 (IP 470/24) the will to keep the Foradori-Duncan Pact alive, through this new Mondino-Lammy Pact, which in its most salient parts indicates: "Within the framework of a renewed stage of the bilateral relationship, characterized by dialogue and the building of trust, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Argentine Republic, Diana Mondino, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, David Lammy, meeting in New York on September 24, advanced a broad agenda of issues that include different aspects linked to the South Atlantic, applying this agenda already "its results in the safeguarding formula for sovereignty contained in paragraph 2 of the Joint Declaration of 19 October 1989."
The Parties have agreed to resume negotiations aimed at finalizing the third phase of the Humanitarian Project Plan jointly with the International Red Cross, as well as to organize a trip for the families of the fallen to the Islands before the end of 2024, so that they can visit the graves of the soldiers who rest there .
The need to move forward with concrete measures regarding fisheries conservation and in favour of better connectivity was also established, in accordance with the arrangements reached in 2018, including the resumption of the weekly flight from San Pablo to the Islands, which made a monthly stopover in Córdoba. These measures will allow progress on a more ambitious agenda of cooperation in different areas and under a sovereign formula, aimed at promoting human and economic development and strengthening ties between the Islands and the continent. This last paragraph is none other than that Argentina "adopts appropriate measures to remove all obstacles that limit economic growth and sustainable development of the Malvinas Islands, including trade, fishing, navigation and hydrocarbons."
And we wonder what the United Kingdom's contribution is? As a counterpart to this shameful concession by Argentina.
Mariano Moreno told us: " There are decisions that cannot be made either drunk or asleep ," that is, under no circumstances. We cannot continue to accept that this new, unworthy Mondino-Lammy Pact, which harms national sovereignty and violates the National Constitution, be signed, once again leaving aside the National Congress and the majority will of the Argentines who have not given the Chancellor any mandate to facilitate the British territorial occupation of our territories.
Dr. Cesar Augusto Lerena
South Atlantic and Fisheries expert - former Secretary of State.
President of the Center for Latin American Fisheries Studies (CESPEL).
Web: cesarlerena.com.ar
September 24, 2024
