An argentinian here!
I believe that the revival of the sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands is a smokescreen; nationalist propaganda to cover up serious problems the government is facing, for the first time in a while.
I would like to quote Jorge Ernesto Lanata, one of the only local journalists with whom I identify. He said:
"Our country's policy towards the Malvinas is insane, erratic, senseless. Blocking the ports is more of the same madness. Argentina needs to integrate the islands, not isolate them. We have to face up to the fact that we lost the war. Malvinas is not part of Argentina; it is part of our imagination. We're so blinded by years of rhetoric that we can't see reality."
I perfectly agree with this guy! 30 years have passed since the war and instead of recognizing the consequences of what happened, subsequent governments turned the Falkland Islands into another national symbol like Evita, el Che and Maradona. Argentina never cared about these islands, except when politics needed to use them as a distraction tool. Now, the president constantly boasts of the country's democratic progress, criticizing the attitude of the de facto government that took us to war, but at the same time using equal resources to those utilized by the military 3 decades ago, pretty ironic...
Argentina should take advantage of its geographical location to strengthen relations with a world power like the United Kingdom. But that's probably never gonna happen.
An imminent war? Who said that? It's completely impossible...
Basically, that's my position on the current situation.
From the beginning of time, history is different and way more complex. But the highlights are the following:
1776: Spain ruled the islands as part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
1790: Britain conceded Spanish sovereignty over all Spain's traditional territories in the Americas.
1816: The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, later called Argentina, claimed independence from Spain.
[That sovereignty of the islands was transferred to Argentina from Spain upon independence, a principle known as uti possidetis juris.]
1825: The United Kingdom recognised Argentina's independence from Spain.
1833: A military operation from the UK took control of the islands after the american sloop USS Lexington destroyed the argentine military defenses of the settlement of Puerto Soledad. Then, despite being in peaceful relations with the Confederation of Argentina, the British expelled the argentinian garrison of 26 soldiers.
Since then, the islands have been under British rule, except during the war.
These points show us why the islands should belong to Argentina. However, in more than a century, the South Americans never protested or tried to regain that territory. Having done that peacefully, perhaps history would have been different. But the desire of the Argentine military junta to distract attention from domestic economic and political ills, led to a non-diplomatic resolution. Not surprisingly! After all, an awful lot of lunatics had the power these days. The war started.
What still amaze me today is how fast the british struck back. Obviously Thatcher didn’t give a fuck about her people. It seems she wasn't very different from our dictators. Stuff like this, is far more important than any debate we could have about any particular conflict. The sad part is, no matter what we do, it will always happen again...
