UK ships refused entry to Argentine

The P0 Cruises’ ship Adonia and the Princess Cruises’ vessel Star Princess were refused entry to Ushuaia in the Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of Argentina, after they docked at the Malvinas (Falkland) islands.

Argentina along with many other South American and Caribbean nations formerly announced that they would prevent any boats sailing under Falklands flag to dock at their ports, in a bid to support Argentina sovereignty over the Malvinas.

The war rhetoric between London and Buenos Aires over the oil-rich islands has heightened as the 30th anniversary of the Malvinas war approaches. Argentine government accused Britain of militarizing the dispute over the islands sovereignty as the UK has deployed its most sophisticated warship, HMS Dauntless, and a nuclear submarine to the South Atlantic to secure its colony in the region.

Britain has also dispatched an heir to throne, the Duke of Cambridge, to the islands on a six-week tour as a search and rescue pilot. The government will also deploy senior politicians to the archipelago a head of the anniversary of the 1982 war, believing to prevent Argentina’s possible counter-move.

A spokeswoman for PO Cruises said, “Following its call at the Falkland Islands on Saturday, February 25, the local port authorities have not permitted Adonia to berth at Ushuaia, Argentina.

“The ship is on an 87-night South America Adventure which departed Southampton on January 13, 2012.”

A Foreign Office spokesman expressed the FCO’s concern over Argentine’s decision to ban the entry of British ships. Claiming, “There can be no justification for interference in free and legitimate commerce.”

This is while that Argentine last year approved a bill to ban all “permanence, docking, supplies or logistic support to all vessels with the British flag, or convenience flag, which are linked to exploration, drilling or natural resources exploitation in the Malvinas Islands basin, on the Argentine continental platform,” South Atlantic news agency Merco Press reported.

SAB/JR/HE

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