Milei: Falkland Islands belong to Argentina

 

TT

 

Published 04.14Updated 04.44

 

Argentine President Javier Milei on Thursday. Photo: Esteban Felix/AP/TT

Argentine President Javier Milei says in a speech to the nation that the Falkland Islands belong to the country “historically and legally”.

Tensions between Argentina and Britain over the disputed archipelago, called Las Malvinas in Spanish, have increased recently.

In a televised speech on Friday night, Swedish time, Milei says he intends to build a new military base in Tierra del Fuego. The decision comes after a British-Israeli project to drill for oil off the Falkland Islands was announced.

“If we do not act decisively and quickly today, in a few months they will have the material capacity to seize the oil reserves that exist under our sea,” Milei says according to La Nacion.

Argentina will also impose sanctions on oil companies that drill off the islands without permission from Argentina.

Opening from Trump

Milei is a close ally of US President Donald Trump, who has previously said that the US may reassess its neutrality on the Falklands issue.

In 2013, the then 2,000 inhabitants voted almost unanimously for the islands to remain British. But according to Milei, they have no right to decide for themselves because, according to him, they live on occupied land.

– Any arguments based on referendums held on the islands are invalid, he says.

Uniting the people

According to analysts spoken to by the Wall Street Journal, it is not uncommon for Argentine presidents to use the Falklands to unite the people.

– So it is not surprising that Milei is trying to take full advantage of the situation for political reasons, since he is in a difficult situation, says Michael Shifter at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank.

Milei's support in July was 37 percent – ​​a record low for the right-wing politician, the newspaper writes.

The Falkland Islands have been British since 1833. The government in Buenos Aires has claimed for just as long that they are occupied Argentine territory, a conflict that led to a two-month war over the islands in 1982. 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers, as well as three civilian islanders, were killed.