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FALKLAND ISLANDERS "NOT TO BLAME" FOR BLIND DAVE SWITCH

17-03-2008

More details have emerged of the reasons for Blind Dave Heeley’s decision to switch the second leg of his seven marathon challenge from Chile to Brazil – with Falkland Islanders insisting they aren’t to blame.

We reported last week that Argentina wouldn’t allow Dave’s charter jet to fly through their airspace in a tit for tat response for their citizens being denied access to war graves following the 1982 conflict (see link here).

Not true says Nick Hutton, who used to run a bank in Port Stanley who has now written to clarify the situation. He explains that the restrictions are, in fact, the result of a blanket ban on charter flights to the Islands imposed by President Kirschener in Buenos Aires.

Nick says, “The Argentinean Families Association then sought to arrange a charter flight to visit the war cemetery but the Falkland Islands government merely politely pointed out that this was not allowed by their own government.”

The families will now have to visit by ship, and as the same restrictions also apply to Dave, it makes more sense for him to fly to Brazil rather than Chile after completing the Falklands leg of the trip.

To hear Blind Dave’s latest podcast, click here

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