“Let them use them to help Argentinian students”

The government of the Malvinas has harshly rejected the offer of scholarships to students from the islands to come and study on the mainland, which the Argentine government has just launched. They had done the same last year when offered help to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

“The offer of Argentinian government scholarships to islanders to study in Argentina is considered Like nothing but a political coup since it is the anniversary of the war in 1982 – it happened on April 2 – and before the next meeting of the United Nations C24 committee ”, began Councilor Barry Elsby, after taking the time to ask what he did Bugle this week as part of the trip that Foreign Minister Felipe Solá and the Secretary of the Malvinas region, Daniel Filmus, made Monday to the United Nations.

This Thursday 24, Solá and Filmus will represent Argentina before the United Nations Decolonization Committee which, like every year for at least two decades, debates a resolution in which a majority of members – they call it the C24 – end up supporting the country: the resolution calls for the Kingdom United and Argentina to speak out and find a peaceful solution to the national claim of Malvinas sovereignty.

A week ago, Filmus and Minister of Education Nicolas Trotta launched the “Thomas Bridges” scholarship program, which is framed by the provisions of United Nations General Assembly resolution 2065 (XX) and the will of the National and National Government of Education They stated that they were seeking to establish better interrelationships with the inhabitants of the islands. And with that, they offered scholarships for islanders to enter unimpeded into the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate careersor dictated by the national universities of La Pampa, Río Negro, Comahue, Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Patagonia Austral and Tierra del Fuego.

In the Falklands, there was no immediate response. Neither of the notices in the local press. “You will know that the Falkland Islands government fully funds students who wish to attend college, university or do an apprenticeship outside of the country,” Elsby replied at Clarin’s insistence. “While most students choose to study in the UK, there are no restrictions on where in the world they can go; in fact, the government of the Falkland Islands funded at least one of our students to study in Cordoba, Argentina, ”he said.

And he closed the debate by saying that the archipelago’s economy was strong despite the pandemic and instead – he warned – Argentina was battling debt and inflation. “I think the only right there is is to have surplus funds earmarked for scholarships for the people of the Falkland Islands they would be better used to help Argentinian students improve their potential, ”he said.

This is not the first time that the Falklands have refused a rapprochement with the continent, and it is not the first time that scholarships or cooperation have been offered. The main thing is to know how and when.

In 2015, during the last stage of the previous K government, Filmus – who was also the region’s secretary – launched a similar scholarship program. He did so after three administrations – that of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner – which maintained a policy of extreme tension with London for the Malvinas and also with the islands.

They cut their charter flights, imposed fines on fishing companies and oil companies. They banned the Kelper flag on the mainland, and in some cases the British flag was banned in southern Argentine ports. The government won the support of the residents at the time, and the former president, now vice-president, called the islanders “Okupas” and threatened to cut their weekly flights from Latam as well.

There were moments of tremendous tension. In the middle, the islanders organized a referendum – of only local impact – to show Argentina that nearly 99% of its population – as the result – identified as British. In fact, they have British nationality.

Filmus, who admires the time when communication agreements with the United Kingdom for the islands ruled, from the 1970s and interrupted by the military landing of April 2, 1982, attempts a policy of rapprochement, even if the official rhetoric is become tense because the government has put harsh talk for the Malvinas back on the agenda.

In this sense, Filmus is optimistic. He claims to know that “not all islanders are against”. Many don’t want to go to London to study because they don’t come back. In fact, the island population in terms of those born there is stagnating, remember. “Relatives who live here as islanders have told us that their families have taken it well.”

Solá and Filmus, who also traveled with Foreign Ministry Chief of Staff Guillermo Justo Chaves, met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and United Nations General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir.

The Falklands are represented by two advisers: Mark Pollard and Leona Rogers, of Chilean origin.