A new Falkland Islands row is brewing after the president of Bolivia reiterated his belief in Argentina’s right to reclaim the archipelago as their own. President Luis Arce advocated for the country to reclaim the islands that it briefly held in the early 19th century, as part of a wider statement on South American sovereignty.
Mr Arce also expressed support for Bolivia to have sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean and Puerto Rico independence. He said: “In our bilateral relationship with Chile, we always maintain the historic demand for sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean, with a national and inalienable priority, as established in the Constitution. Bolivia’s sovereignty at sea is part of the pending agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Landlocked Bolivia lost access to the sea in 1884 following a war with Chile and it has tried to regain access ever since.
In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled against Bolivia in its dispute, stating that Chile was not obliged to negotiate access.
The Bolivian leader used his country’s struggle, and wider region struggles to make the case for wider sovereignty.
He mentioned four issues of regional interest: “The return of the Malvinas Islands to Argentina, the independence of Puerto Rico, the return of the Guantánamo Bay base to Cuba, and the end of the economic blockade against that country.
“As you can see, in the region we still have much to discuss and issues to resolve, and the principle that we are a zone of peace, declared by CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) in 2014, is a good framework for that.”
Although historical accounts of who “discovered” the islands differ, they have been held by the British since the expulsion of the Argentine governor and garrison in 1833.
In 1982, an Argentine invasion of the islands led to the Falklands war, as a British taskforce was dispatched to reclaim the territory.
The 74-day conflict resulted in 255 British soldiers losing their lives as well as 649 Argentinians before Buenos Aires surrendered.
Britain has long said that the territory will remain British for as long as the inhabitants wish for it to remain so.
A 2013 referendum on the sovereignty of the Falklands saw 1,513 of 1,517 voters state that they wished to remain part of the UK.
