Friday, March 12, 1999
Prince steps on toes
after tango dancing
By Michael McCaughan, in Buenos Aires
Argentina/Britain: Buenos Aires police and city hall officials
cancelled the Prince of Wales's trip to one of Argentina's
poorest shanty towns after anti-British riots sparked by the
prince's comments on the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).
The local authorities said they feared for the Prince Charles's
safety if he visited the Villa Lugano shanty town on the edge of
the capital. However, a spokeswoman for the prince denied
that the visit had been cancelled because of security. The
prince's itinerary was too hectic and his programme of visits
had to be scaled down, she said.
The Federation of Shanty Towns issued a statement saying the
authorities "have had the disrespectful and demagogic bad taste
to take for a walk around one of our most marginal shanty
towns, the prince of English colonialism".
Meanwhile, in the poor, north central province of Santiago del
Estero, a small left-wing party petitioned a federal judge to
arrest Prince Charles for alleged British human rights violations
during the 1982 Falklands war with Argentina, in the same way
that Chile's Gen Pinochet was arrested in London for alleged
human rights violations. The prince's long-awaited
trip got off to a promising start on Tuesday evening, as he
danced the tango with the President's daughter, Zulema. The
tango ended in a tangle however, as rioters clashed with police,
transvestites stormed the British embassy and Prince Charles
crossed swords with the Vice-President, Mr Carlos Ruckauf,
who described the visiting heir as "a colonial usurper".
The diplomatic twist began just after President Carlos Menem
and Prince Charles swapped compliments during a gala dinner
at the Alvear Hotel, where the prince told the audience he
planned to return once he had taken tango lessons to improve
his step. Minutes later, however, the guests were stunned as
Prince Charles dropped a bombshell: "My hope is that the
people of modern, democratic Argentina, with their passionate
attachment to national traditions, can live amicably alongside
the people of another smaller democracy just a few hundred
miles off your coast" - a reference to Argentina's claim to
sovereignty over the islands.
As if on cue, 400 protesters gathered a few streets away,
where riot police erected barriers and blocked off access to
the hotel. To the battle cry of "Brits out of the Malvinas and
Yankees out of Latin America", protesters forced their way
beyond the barriers, resulting in scuffles, 58 arrests and a
dozen injuries.
Mr Ruckauf abandoned all pretence at diplomatic niceties and
described Prince Charles's comments as "absolutely
inappropriate . . . a typical British trap which has been used
elsewhere in the world".
Mr Ruckauf then described how the British "first fill the stolen
territory with their people" and then "invite the inhabitants to
free themselves by entering the economic empire known as the
Commonwealth".
Argentina's Foreign Minister, Mr Guido di Tella, moved
quickly to smooth ruffled feathers, advising Mr Ruckauf to
"re-read the constitution", saying the prince's words were a
mere reminder to the islanders that they had no reason "to fear
or worry" about Argentina's sovereignty claim.
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