The UK yesterday asserted that the Falkland Islands “are British” after Argentine President Javier Milei said the “winds of change” favored his country’s claim to the archipelago, citing Washington’s readiness to review its neutrality in the dispute.
Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war in 1982 over the South Atlantic islands, a British overseas territory that Argentines call Las Malvinas.
The fate of the islands hit headlines again in recent days after US President Donald Trump threatened to wade into the dispute, and a British-Israeli oil project near the islands caused anger in Argentina.
Photo: AFP
In an address on national TV, Milei on Thursday said that Argentina would not “stand idly by” in the face of the oil project and announced sanctions on firms linked to oil extraction “in Argentine territory under British occupation.”
“There are winds of change in the world that are favorable to our claim,” he said, alluding to Trump’s threat to withdraw support for Britain’s sovereignty.
Control of the Falklands is a highly emotive issue in Argentina, even though the islanders themselves voted overwhelmingly in 2013 to remain British.
“The Falklands are British, because Falkland Islanders choose to be British,” British Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting wrote in a social media post.
“Our commitment to the Falklands is absolute and unshakeable,” he added.
The Falklands War began in April 1982 when Argentine forces invaded the islands ruled by Britain since the 19th century, prompting then-British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to send a naval task force to reclaim them.
The conflict left 649 Argentines, 255 Britons and three islanders dead.
On Tuesday, Argentine Falklands War veterans and environmental lawyers filed a lawsuit to halt the oil project led by the British company Rockhopper and the Israeli company Navitas.
The partner firms said they were operating “with valid oil licenses” and “with the full and ongoing support” of the British government.
Milei said the project violated a UN resolution calling on both sides to desist from unilateral actions in the islands.
“If we allow it, we will be creating an incentive for the British government to deepen the occupation of the islands and the exploitation of our resources,” he said.
He added that companies involved in Falklands’ projects “behind the back of the Argentine government” would be barred from operating in Argentine territory.
His address came as his approval ratings have plummeted, just over a year before he seeks re-election.
Polls show only about 34 percent of Argentines supporting his drastic belt-tightening and deregulation policies.
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