Csar Francis, legal secretary of the AAT. (photo courtesy of Cosat)
The logo of the South American Tennis Confederation (Cosat) will include the Falkland Islands, after the Ten countries on the continent will approve a request from the Argentine Tennis Association (AAT).
This was informed to Tlam by the legal secretary of the AAT, Csar Francis, who participated in the first meeting of the Cosat held in Asuncin, Paraguay, last weekend, in which ten countries participated, and who requested the inclusion in the agenda of the modification of the entity’s logo with the inclusion of the Malvinas in the image of the continent that appears in it.
“It is an omission that affects not only the sovereign Argentina but also South America. We have the full conviction that the Falkland Islands are Argentine and we must defend the sovereign and reflect it in every act and action “, Francis expressed in the assembly.
The initiative, which had the support of the president of the AAT, Cordobs Agustn Calleri, its vice president, Mariano Zabaleta, and the legal advice of the entity’s lawyer, Lorena Lamela, was “quickly accepted by the outgoing head of COSAT, the Paraguayan Camilo Lpez, who asked the members present for their treatment and approval, “explained Francis.
“Sport in general and tennis, in this particular case, are singular pulpits, they are huge resonance boxes that serve to amplify and vindicate messages“Francis said in statements to Tlam.
And he pointed out: “It is a pride that Argentine and South American tennis contribute their grain of sand in pursuit of claiming the Argentine sovereign over the Falkland Islands“.
Cosat is made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, and is affiliated with the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the body that directs this sport in the world.
The proposal was unanimously approved by the presidents of the ten countries present and deserved a gratitude from Francis to Lpez for the immediate reception of the proposal and for having taken the issue as his own when presenting it and submitting it directly to the consideration of the plenary.
“It was exciting to see the reaction of the presidents of other federations starting with Camilo Prez, or like that of the Peruvian federation, Mario Monroy, who told me that Peruvian schools teach and instill that the Malvinas are Argentine”, he asserted. Francis.
Francis, 55, a journalist, former candidate for president in San Lorenzo and a member of the minority committee of that entity, unsuccessfully requested in 2017 to the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) the inclusion of the Falkland Islands in the logo of the entity.
New entity owner
In addition, at the COSAT session, the Brazilian Rafael Westrupp was elected as the new owner to replace López, and, in addition, information was given on the situation of tennis in the region.
“The president-elect told me that steps are already being taken to move forward with the logo change,” Francis said.
In another part of the dialogue with Tlam, Francis advanced: “We are going to speak with the secretary of Malvinas, Antrtida and Atlntico Sur, Daniel Filmus, so that other sports federations follow the same path “.
On June 24, Foreign Minister Felipe Sol renewed at the United Nations (UN) the claim for sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands during the session of the Decolonization Committee of the international organization.
The owner of the Palacio San Martín raised the Argentine position regarding sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime spaces and in rejection of the presence of the United Kingdom in the archipelago, usurped in 1833.
Argentina asks the United Kingdom to comply with Resolution 2065 -of 1965- of the United Nations to find a solution to the dispute.
The UN Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24), in the same session, approved a resolution that reiterates the call to both nations to find a peaceful solution to the controversy.
The C-24 was created in 1961 by the General Assembly as a subsidiary body dedicated to matters relating to decolonization.
It is made up of 29 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Chile, China, Congo, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Mali, Nicaragua, Pope New Guinea, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Syrian Arab Republic, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, United Republic of Tanzania and Venezuela.
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