CFK to seek reinstatement of flights between Buenos Aires and Malvinas

During her speech this afternoon at the opening of this year's ordinary sessions in Congress, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced her wishes to resume flights between Buenos Aires and the Malvinas Islands.

The President said she will instruct Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman to renegotiate the route to the Islands with the British government, underlining that flights go out of Buenos Aires rather than Chile, also upping flight frequency to three flights a week.

The President’s announcement was unexpected, since when attending the UN General Assembly last September, she had mentioned the possibility of suspending flights connecting Chile to the Malvinas if the UK refused to engage in dialogue over the islands’ sovereignty. 

“What we want is for the UK to comply with the UN’s resolution. We don’t want to affect anyone’s interests. Not the British people’s interests and not the islanders’ interests,” she emphasized.

President Fernández said she had instructed Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman to renegotiate with the United Kingdom the possibility of having three weekly flights from Aerolíneas Argentinas connecting Buenos Aires with the Malvinas Islands. 

Currently the islands are only reachable by air through two weekly LAN flights leaving from Punta Areas.

“We’re tired of being humiliated,” she said, and insisted on the alleged “militarization” of the islands. But she then assured that all Argentina wants is to “sit down and discuss” the matter while taking the interests of the islanders into consideration. 

“Argentina is a country that was built by immigrants. My grandparents were immigrants, but above all, Argentina cannot allow a colonial enclave here,” she stated.

“We will continue to be a peaceful people, but we will stand up for our rights,” she concluded.