An Argentine Minister of Foreign Relations , Hector Timerman, has challenged Prime Minister David Cameron over the British claim on the Falkland Islands during a summit in Brussels, RT reports.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “At the dinner, the prime minister robustly defended the Falklands and the islanders’ right to self-determination in response to the Argentine Foreign Minister raising the issue (…) The prime minister underlined that the islanders had expressed their view in a referendum and that should be respected (…) He went on to add that the waters around the Falklands were territorial waters and it was unacceptable of Argentina to threaten investors seeking to operate there.”
In April, Argentina said it was pressing ahead with its plans to sue three UK oil exploration companies, Premier Oil, Falkland Oil and Gas, and Rockhopper, operating in the region.
On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a remote UK colony in the South Atlantic. The move led to a brief war. Argentina’s military junta hoped to restore its support at a time of economic crisis, by reclaiming sovereignty of the islands. It said it had inherited them from Spain in the 1800s and they were close to South America, BBC reports.
Clockwise from top left: Captured Argentine soldiers; injured British serviceman from HMS Sheffield; UK soldier during advance; HMS Sheffield on fire; UK troops raise flag: Argentine soldiers on Falklands. Courtesy of BBC.
The UK, which had ruled the islands for 150 years, quickly chose to fight. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said the 1,800 Falklanders were “of British tradition and stock”. A task force was sent to reclaim the islands, 8,000 miles away, according to the news agency.
Diplomatic relations between the UK and Argentina resumed in 1990, but differences remain. Argentina maintains a peaceful claim to the islands, but the UK says sovereignty is not open to negotiation.
The intelligence data released by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency analyst who fled to Russia after exposing a vast US spying operation, suggests “Britain has spied on the Argentine authorities since at least 2009, preparing offensive cyber operations to change public opinion regarding the Falklands, according to the Intercept,” RT reports.
Snowden also talked to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina, during her state visit to Moscow in April, according to Anthony Romero, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union and a lawyer of Snowden, according to The Times of London.
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