Las Malvinas or Falkland Islands:

British or Argentinean?
April 2 2012, 12.17am EDT
AUTHOR

1.
Antonio Castillo

Program Director, Journalism at RMIT University

DI SC L O SU R E S TATE M E N T

Antonio Castillo does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no
relevant affiliations.

Provides funding as a Strategic Partner of The Conversation AU.

rmit.edu.au

Graves of Argentinean servicemen killed by UK forces in the 1982 war. AAP/EPA/Flight Sergeant Andy Carnall
 Protestors hurl paint at the HSBC bank in Buenos Aires after the UK announced

Prince William would be posted to Las Malvinas.AAP/EPA/Leo La ValleThe

first buildings in Las Malvinas or the
Falklands as the British call the islands in the South Atlantic were houses made of stone and
were built by Argentinean hands.
It was in 1831 when forty men led by Luis Vernet, the first Argentinean commander in Las
Malvinas settled here. Along with him came his wife, Mara who gave birth a girl who was
christened Malvinas. The Argentinean settlement in this merciless land didnt last long though.

In 1833 the British colonial power invaded Las Mavinas, and what happen afterwards is now
called ethnic cleansing hundreds of English settlers were artificially introduced while all
Argentineans were expelled.

The British invasion and the thorny question of who owns Las Malvinas - has been reignited with
unprecedented fervour on April 2, the date marking the 30th anniversary of the Argentinean and
British war, in 1982. The tension between Buenos Aires and London has escalated.
The Union Jack is torched outside the British embassy in Buenos Aires. AAP/EPA/Daniel Feldman

The war of 1982 was a folly led by the madness of the then Argentinean dictator General
Leopoldo Galtieri, who couldnt find anything better to do than recover the islands by force. The
conflict, which lasted 74 days, caused the death of 649 Argentinean soldiers, 255 British and
three civilians. His military jaunt more of an attempt to divert attention from his crumbling
dictatorship than anything - had nothing to do with the genuine aspiration of Argentina to recover
Las Malvinas.

The current push by Argentina to recover Las Malvinas, encapsulated by the energetic
diplomatic offensive of the Argentinean president Cristina Kirchner, is today not only genuine but
also legitimate. President Kirchner has described the recovery of Las Malvinas as a struggle
against colonisation".

Kirchner has transformed the recovery of Las Malvinas into a central piece of her renewed
political mandate; she was re-elected recently with an overwhelming majority. And - in contrast
to the military adventurism of 1982 - President Kirchners renewed claim for La Malvinas is not a
political gambit, as the British media and commentators have tried to discredit it.
A struggle against colonialism: Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner AAP/EPA/Leo La Valle

President Kirchner is articulating a genuine national aspiration and she is playing by the rules.
Her foreign minister Hctor Timerman has been tireless running up and down the corridors of
the UN trying to get the British government to sit down and discuss a peaceful solution to the
conflict. He has sought mediation at all levels of the UN, General Secretary, General Assembly
and the Security Council. All of them have pledged to help.

But London has plainly ignored the diplomatic efforts made by Buenos Aires and has stated that
it will not negotiate over the sovereignty unless the inhabitants of the islands wish to do so.

Similarly, the UK has never acknowledged the United Nations 1514 resolution the Declaration
over the Independence of Countries and Colonial People - that establishes that any attempt to
break the national unity and territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the principles
and purposes of the UN.

The uncooperative approach taken by London has been further worsened by the UN British
ambassador Mark Lyall Grant warning Argentina that any attempt to use the April 2
anniversary to launch a military adventure would be confronted by a robust defence. As if the
Argentinean government was planning to do so.
Lyall Grants unhelpful statement is a reflection of the aggressive approach taken by London,
one that has been accompanied by the British governments hasty militarisation of Las Malvinas
and the Southern Atlantic.

British out from Las Malvinas: we shall return - graffiti in Buenos Aires. Antonio Castillo

In the last few months this remote part of the world has witnessed the arrival of several Typhoon
II the latest generation of warplanes (they have been used in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq);
HMS Dauntless the most advanced war ship of the British navy; and HMS Vanguard a
nuclear submarine. This in contravention of the 1967 Treaty of Tlalelolco that banned nuclear
arms in Latin America, the Pacific and Caribbean region.

Great Britain has transformed Las Malvinas Island into a key military base for the control of the
South Atlantic, the inter-oceanic access and projection into the Antarctica securing the
exploitation of the natural resources of the South Atlantic that belongs to the Argentinean
people, an Argentinean Ministry of Foreign Affairs communiqu said.

Buenos Aires has no doubt that the militarisation of the zone a bit disproportionate by all
accounts - has nothing to do with the defence of the 2,500 British citizens living in Las Malvinas.
But it has everything to do with the control of the vast natural resources in the area.

The British government announced an ambitious plan to drill in the area that seems to contain,
according to some experts, the equivalent of 60 million barrels of crude oil.
The British action is in contravention of the United Nations ban on unilateral development and
exploitation of territories still under dispute. On this, one has to concur with Argentinas foreign
affairs minister Hctor Timerman that the British government is acting above the judicial
international order.

Prince William poses with a map of Las Malvinas ahead of his posting to the British possession. AAP/EPA/Sgt Andry Malthouse Abipp

The militarisation of the South Atlantic and certainly the British colonial presence in the region
has not gone down well in Latin America. After all, this is a region that has suffered to this day
the damaging effects of imperialism and colonisation; first under Spanish colonial rule and then
under US imperialism.

No wonder Las Malvinas sovereignty is no longer an Argentinean aspiration only. It has become
a Latin American claim. The largest majority of Latin American countries have acted in block to
support Argentinas legitimate claim, including Chile - a traditionally pro-English country that
under the military dictatorship of General Pinochet provided logistic support to the British in the
war of 1982. Last December several Latin American countries announced they would block any
ships navigating under the Falklands flag.

In addition several Latin American leaders have expressed their support for Argentinas claim.
Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa wrote on Twitter an impassionate message: Las Malvinas
is a Latin American cause, dear Argentina not one step back!
In the light of this overwhelming domestic and regional support, it is very unlikely that President
Cristina Kirchner will take a step back. On the contrary, she will strengthen her position around a
legitimate post-colonial ideal sharply expressed by Cubas leader Fidel Castro the English
have nothing to do here, they have to negotiate and leave.