Argentina’s top diplomat has said Buenos Aires wants the Falkland Islands back and dismissed Lord David Cameron’s recent visit to the British Overseas Territory.
Diana Mondino, Argentina’s Foreign Minister, described a recent meeting with her British counterpart as “the beginning of a very productive future”, but condemned Lord Cameron’s visit to the archipelago.
In remarks reported by local media, Ms Mondino said: “There is no possible discussion over the [future sovereignty of] Las Malvinas…
“We are looking for the best way to achieve this, changing strategies so as not to end up with options such as war or freezing relations with Britain. With a healthier society and an orderly economy, it will be easier to recover the islands, which is what we all want.”
The Falkland Islands are a British Overseas Territory claimed by Argentina, which calls them Las Malvinas.
Lord Cameron visited the Falklands earlier this month, declaring that he hoped the islanders would want to remain British “forever”.
Ms Mondino hailed the meeting with Lord Cameron as the beginning of “a very productive future”, but condemned his visit to the islands shortly before the meeting.
She said: “From our point of view, his visit to the Malvinas was repudiatory. We have a different way of looking at the issue.”
The Argentine’s comments came weeks into the new administration of radical libertarian Javier Milei, who became president of the South American country in December. He has previously refused to acknowledge the Falklands are British.
His election comes as Argentina grapples with a longstanding economic crisis, huge debt and inflation in three figures.
Ms Mondino, in comments translated into English from Spanish language news website perfil.com, said: “Argentina is back on the map because of its convictions and what we want to do.
“If we succeed, we will be an example of the methodology of how to do it. We are standing now where we should not have stopped. We are closer to all liberal democracies, but there is a long way to go before we are a beacon.”
Lord Cameron’s visit to the Falkland Islands was the first by a British foreign secretary since 1994 and the first by any Cabinet minister since 2016.
Speaking in the Falklands’ capital Stanley after a wreath-laying ceremony to honour those killed in the 1982 war, the former PM played down suggestions from Mr Milei that there could be a negotiation on the future of the UK overseas territory.
Lord Cameron said: “Let me be absolutely clear: as far as we are concerned, as long as the Falkland Islands want to be part of the UK family they are absolutely welcome to be part of that family and we will support them and back them and help protect and defend them absolutely, as far as I’m concerned, for as long as they want.
“And I hope that’s for a very, very long time, possibly forever.”
The shadow of the Falklands War has been hanging over UK-Argentine relations ever since Argentina invaded the territory.
It claimed the lives of 255 British servicemen, three islanders and 649 Argentinian personnel.
Lord Cameron and Mr Milei had a “warm and cordial” meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, but on the issue of the islands’s sovereignty, the UK Foreign Office said “they would agree to disagree, and do so politely”.
In a 2013 referendum, the islanders voted overwhelmingly to retain their status as a UK overseas territory.
Mr Milei has suggested the UK should approach the issue in a way similar to the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997.
