The Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement yesterday rejecting British Prime Minister David Cameron’s latest comments on the Falklands/Malvinas conflict.
The official statement starts by repudiating “the military threats of [British] Prime Minister David Cameron related to the illegal occupation that Great Britain has exercised over the Malvinas Islands for the last 180 years.” It then goes on to request Cameron to “not use the legitimate and peaceful claims that we have made against the usurpation of part of our territory and against colonialism as an excuse to keep supporting the arms industry instead of resolving the severe social crisis which Europe is going through. People need more work and less wars.”
The ministry’s response comes after an interview Cameron gave the BBC, in which the British Prime Minister said his government would fight to keep the islands. ”Of course we would [fight for the islands] and we have strong defences in place on the Falkland Islands -that is absolutely key, that we have fast jets stationed there, we have troops stationed on the Falklands,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement finished with a call for the UK “to accept the resolutions of the United Nations to resolve the Malvinas Issue in a peaceful way.”
The conflict between Argentina and the UK over the sovereignty of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands came back to the forefront last week after president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner published an open letter to Prime Minister Cameron on the British press, denouncing the “occupation” of the islands in 1833 and calling for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Prime Minister Cameron responded by insisting on the British position of upholding the principle of self-determination, and putting the issue of sovereignty to the islanders on a referendum to be held in March.
Come on Timerman,… “the military threats,”? A little bit of nationalistic color and slant to what was said by the UK Prime Minister. And: “excuse to keep supporting the arms industry,…” a distraction technique often seen in blogsites to try and change the subject by suggesting untruths coupled with other dubious subject matter. I wish the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs would grow up.