In a note they promote as exclusive, the Argentine media La Política Online (LPO) reported that the trans-Andean foreign minister Pablo Quirno had allegedly asked for “the head” of the head of the Air Force, Brigadier General Gustavo Javier Valverde, for saying that the Strait of Magellan is Argentine, statements that led Chile to present a note of protest.
Read more Von der Leyen offers European Union aid to Nepal after “devastating” floods
“Pablo Quirno exploded in fury with the Minister of Defense, Carlos Presti, and asked for the head of the Chief of the Air Force, Gustavo Javier Valverde, for generating a diplomatic conflict with Chile,” reported LPO, which recalled that the military chief “spoke of the sovereignty of the Strait of Magellan as part of Argentine territory and stressed that it is one of the areas where Argentina must maintain its sovereignty.”
During an interview on the YouTube channel “La Fábrica del Podcast”, broadcast on Sunday, Valverde stated: “And the other very important thing we have, as you said, Magellan, the south, the Drake, all that is sovereignty. We must maintain it there, we must have a presence because that is a bioceanic key, Atlantic-Pacific, and as I say, that can alert you to a lot of things.”
His statements generated an immediate reaction from the Chilean Foreign Ministry, which reported that it would send a note of protest to Argentina. “We reiterate that Chile’s sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan in its entirety is indisputable and is based on the Treaties of 1881 and 1984 signed by both countries,” emphasized Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna.
Read more Lemon pancakes
The Minister of the Interior, Claudio Alvarado, also spoke out and remarked: “Obviously we don’t think it’s right, because the Strait of Magellan in its entirety is indisputably Chilean.”
For its part, the Argentine Foreign Ministry distanced itself from Valverde’s statements and, through a statement, said that “Argentina maintains that its regime is determined by the Boundary Treaty of 1881 and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984, which it considers fully in force and definitive.”
Read more Meta reaches a $16.68 billion settlement over social media’s harm to children
