“Inadmissible provocation.” The drastic decision of a governor after the visit of the Chancellor of the United Kingdom to the Falkland Islands

The governor of the province of Land of Fire, Gustavo Melelladeclared the UK Foreign Minister “persona non grata”, David Cameronwho on Monday arrived for a visit at Falkland Islands. The trip took place just a month after her meeting with Javier Milei in Davos, and is the first by a British official since 2016.

“No colonial representative of a State that attacks our territorial integrity by tarnishing the memory and eternal sacrifice of our Heroes of the Malvinas will be welcome in our province.“, he indicated in an extensive message posted on his official X account.

Melella stressed that as long as “the British usurpation persists” in that territory “and the United Kingdom continues to refuse to resume the negotiations that the international community establishes” to return “what by history and right” belongs to them, they will not rest “in their fight” for the soberand.

The presence of @David_Cameron on our islands #Malvinas constitutes a new British provocation that seeks to undermine our legitimate sovereign rights over our territories and sustain colonialism in the 21st century. We are not going to allow it.

— Gustavo Melella (@gustavomelella) February 19, 2024

“The presence of David Cameron in our Malvinas Islands constitutes a new British provocation that seeks to undermine our legitimate sovereign rights on our territories and sustain colonialism in the 21st century. “We are not going to allow it,” said the re-elected governor in the last elections in May 2023.

The mayor of the municipality of Río Grande expressed himself along the same lines, Martin Perezwho asked Cameron through social networks to “refrain from this type of provocation” and to “end the militarization of the South Atlantic and abide by United Nations resolutions.”

For his part, the former chancellor of the Alberto Fernández administration Santiago Cafiero He also repudiated the visit. “I express my most categorical rejection of the presence of the British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, in the Falkland Islands. This is a new and unacceptable provocation, which did not happen 30 years ago, and which must be rejected by the national government.”.

I express my most categorical rejection of the presence of the British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, in the Falkland Islands.

This is a new and unacceptable provocation, which did not happen 30 years ago, and which must be rejected by the national government.

— Santiago Cafiero (@SantiagoCafiero) February 19, 2024

Cameron’s visit marks the first by a British chancellor in a long period of time. Furthermore, in previous statements he assured that there is no open discussion about the sovereignty of the territory and that the Malvinas Islands are a “valuable part of the British family”.

The British Foreign Minister plans to pay tribute to the British personnel who lost their lives in the 1982 conflict. After his visit, he will travel to Paraguay and later he will attend the meeting of foreign ministers of the G20 in Brazil.

In the Falkland Islands I paid my respects to all those who lost their lives during the conflict in 1982.

We will never forget the incredible service of British forces.

We will always support the Falkland Islanders’ rights, and their work to sustain the prosperous modern… pic.twitter.com/mBIIVLqD1K

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) February 20, 2024

Meeting with Milei in Davos

Cameron had a meeting on January 17 in Davos with President Javier Milei that the Argentine president described as “excellent.” During his election campaign, Milei had said that he would insist on the claim before the United Kingdom: “We had a war that we lost and we have to make every effort to recover the islands through diplomatic channels.”.

For its part, the British Foreign Office said that the meeting between Cameron and Milei was a “warm and cordial meeting”, but that regarding the Malvinas they would “agree to disagree, and do so politely.”

The protocol greeting after the meeting of Milei and Cameron in DavosPRESIDENCE OF ARGENTINA – PRESIDENCE OF ARGENTINA

After landing, Cameron was taken by helicopter to some of the main battle sites of the 1982 war, such as Saint Charles. He then visited Goose Green, a war museum, in a building where islanders would have been held during the conflict. “Thank you for keeping his memory alive.”, the chancellor wrote in the visitors’ book.

According to the British agency Press Association (PA), away from the cameras, Cameron visited, “as a sign of respect”, a cemetery where the remains of some 230 Argentines killed in the conflict rest. Furthermore, he laid a crown on the Liberation Monument in the capital of the FalklandsStanley for the British and Puerto Argentino for the Argentinians.

The archipelago, located 400 kilometers from the Argentine coast and almost 13,000 km from the United Kingdom, was the scene of a 74-day war in 1982, which left 649 Argentinians and 255 British dead.

With information from EuropaPress and AFP

THE NATION

Themes

Falkland IslandsDavid CameronSantiago CafieroTierra del Fuego

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