BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, told an audience that included Britain’s ambassador on Monday night that his government would stop the Falkland Islands from exploiting offshore oilfields, calling it part of a strategy to peacefully recover sovereignty over the British-held archipelago, The Guardian and La Nación reported.
Speaking at the 48th-anniversary dinner of the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) at La Rural in Buenos Aires’ Palermo district, Quirno condemned London over the Sea Lion project, an oil development in the North Falkland Basin. “The British government not only refuses to enter into negotiations to resolve the sovereignty dispute, but is also taking unilateral measures regarding the exploitation of natural resources in the maritime areas that are part of the controversy,” he said. “Preventing the exploitation of our resources from consolidating the British occupation is part of a strategy to recover, through peaceful means, the full exercise of our sovereignty.”
British Ambassador David Cairns left the event shortly after the speech, both papers reported. La Nación said Chile’s ambassador, Gonzalo Uriarte Herrera, also left moments later. Quirno had warned third parties against helping the islanders develop the resources — an apparent reference to Chile, which is due to open a new shipping link to the Falklands by year’s end. “Whoever contributes, directly or indirectly, to the illegitimate exploration or exploitation of resources that belong to all Argentinians will hardly be able to aspire to share in the benefits of our country’s growth,” he said.
The speech escalates a campaign led by President Javier Milei, who last month told the U.N. General Assembly that Sea Lion was an “unlawful act.” On Sept. 28, Milei gave Britain two weeks to halt the project or face binding arbitration under Annex VII of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Argentina accuses Britain of flouting a 1976 U.N. resolution against unilateral action on the islands.
Britain says the islands, home to about 3,600 people, will remain a British overseas territory as long as residents wish; in a 2013 referendum, 99.8 percent voted to stay British. Argentina invaded the islands in 1982, sparking a 74-day war that killed 649 Argentine and 255 British military personnel and three islanders. Quirno also used the speech to hail Flávio Bolsonaro’s first-round lead in Brazil’s presidential election as a sign of a regional political shift.
Sources: The Guardian, La Nación
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