It is a painful page in Argentine history that never seems to want to close. Javier Milei returned to the charge on Thursday September 4 on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, triggering yet another diplomatic crisis with the United Kingdom which recalled its “absolute and unwavering” commitment to the Falkland Islands, the English name of the archipelago located in the South Atlantic.
The Falklands “are British because their inhabitants chose to be British”, recalled British Minister of Defense Wes Streeting on
If most Western countries recognize London’s de facto administration over the archipelago, the sovereignty of this territory located 600 km from the Patagonian coast remains a question still unanswered. This was the subject of a resolution in 1965 which recognized the existence of a dispute, and urged the parties to find a peaceful solution. The UN also places the Falklands on its list of non-self-governing territories to be subject to a decolonization process.
The Falklands archipelago, islets located 600 kilometers from the Argentine Patagonian coast. © France 24 graphic studio
The British conquest of 1833
Discovered by the Portuguese explorer Fernand de Magellan in 1520, the Falkland Islands became the scene of rivalries between European powers in the 18th century. After its independence in 1816, Argentina inherited Spanish claims to the Falklands and attempted to assert its presence there, notably by establishing a colony there in 1832. But the following year, the British fleet expelled the local authorities. The United Kingdom then regained control of the archipelago and gradually installed settlers there, without putting an end to Argentine claims.
Since then, the Falkland Islands have remained a wound for Buenos Aires and an affront to be erased. In 1982, the military dictatorship, faced with an unprecedented economic slump, launched a military operation intended to restore its image and national pride. General Leopoldo Galtieri sent an amphibious force which invaded the islands at dawn on April 2. An ally of Washington in the fight against the guerrillas of Central America, the military is counting on American neutrality and the passivity of the British authorities.
But in London, “the Iron Lady”, Margaret Thatcher, has no intention of finding a compromise with the junta. The British Prime Minister dispatched a fleet to drive out the Argentine contingent, made up mainly of inexperienced conscripts. The war lasts 74 days. It left 649 Argentines and 255 British dead. The defeat in Buenos Aires precipitated the fall of the dictatorial regime the following year, while on the other side of the Atlantic, Margaret Thatcher’s popularity skyrocketed.
Oil reignites tensions
Since then, Buenos Aires has never let go of the Falklands, whose fish-rich waters, in particular squid and sea bass, constitute the main wealth of the island’s inhabitants. But it was the discovery of oil in 2010 in relatively shallow depths that reignited diplomatic tensions with London.
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner makes sovereignty over the Falkland Islands a top priority and is increasing initiatives to advance the Argentine cause at the UN. It also takes retaliatory measures and sanctions against oil companies exploiting hydrocarbons around the archipelago.
The new claims made by Javier Milei could also be motivated by “economic interests”, deciphers Hervé Amoric, France 24’s London correspondent. “This involves exploiting a huge oil field which is located around a hundred miles (around 160 kilometers, Editor’s note) from the Falkland Islands”.
Located in the north of the archipelago, the Sea Lion offshore oil project is led by the British company Rockhopper Exploration and the Israeli Navitas Petroleum. Initially, 55,000 barrels per day should be produced. But Argentina disputes the legality of the project while an association of Falklands veterans and environmental campaigners have taken legal action.
Unifying speech
But beyond Buenos Aires’ appetite for the natural resources of the archipelago, successive Argentinean powers have rarely failed to play on this sensitive chord in the country’s memory. Because the nationalist rhetoric around the Falklands brings together all the fringes of the Argentine political spectrum.
“Las Malvinas son Argentinas” is a slogan echoed for generations and found in the names of municipalities, streets, in school textbooks, on wall frescoes or even tattooed on the skin. During the last Football World Cup, Argentinian players displayed a banner on the pitch proclaiming that “the Falklands are Argentinian”, after their victory against England. In 1986, Diego Maradona described his goal scored with his hand, or “hand of God”, as “a symbolic revenge against the English”.
See alsoForty years after the Falklands War, the wounds remain deep
According to observers, Javier Milei, falling in the polls against a backdrop of budgetary austerity, is trying here to make people forget his domestic difficulties by putting back on the table an issue that has a consensus within Argentine society.
“Javier Milei obviously revives the memory of a ‘national cause’ as a lever for ‘consensus’ and ‘national unity’. This worked well during the last dictatorship and he hopes that it will also work today to create a diversion on the subject of serious questions of internal politics, such as the state of the public university, or even erase the extent of the current social protest”, analyzes political scientist Maria-Laura Moreno-Sainz, lecturer at the Catholic University of Lyon.
“It is a far-right nationalist discourse, which arouses danger, fear, patriotic emotion, and glorifies the Argentine armed forces of yesterday and today,” concludes the expert.
A helping hand from Trump
Javier Milei’s statements also come a few days after ambiguous comments from Donald Trump. Asked about American neutrality on this issue, the tenant of the White House said he did not rule out “reviewing” the American position.
“I always review all the positions. This is one among others,” the American president declared on Monday, when asked about the Falklands, without being more explicit.
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Enough to galvanize Buenos Aires even if in reality, it is mainly the United Kingdom which is targeted by the unpredictable Donald Trump, recalls Antoine Mariotti, international columnist for France 24.
“Trump wants, through this declaration, to put pressure on the United Kingdom so that the country increases its military spending within NATO. There is also the question of collaboration with the Americans on the war in Iran which continues, from which he cannot manage to extricate himself. Will Washington change its tune? We must remain cautious but it is not impossible.”
