‘UK has subjugated Malvinas’: Argentina
Argentina has lashed out at Britain over its ‘persistent colonialism’ in Las Malvinas (Falklands) in a war of words with British Prime Minister David Cameron who labeled Argentina’s 1982 invasion of the Islands “a profound wrong” on Tuesday.
Cameron’s accusation was leveled at Buenos Aires on the 30th anniversary of the 1982 72-day war between Britain and Argentina over the archipelago which Britain has illegally occupied since 1833.
His claims also outraged hundreds of Argentineans who threw rocks and flaming bottles at the British embassy in Buenos Aires also on the occasion of the 1982 war anniversary.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué in response to Cameron’s accusations that Britain is making a “profound error” by “persisting with colonialism,” the Buenos Aires Herald reported.
The communique said people in Malvinas have been placed “under military and cultural subjugation” by Britain which is “plundering” their natural resources.
“That is the story of the United Kingdom, and millions of human beings can give testimony to the fact, still today,” it added.
The Foreign Ministry also blasted the British excuse for continuing to colonize the islands and refraining from negotiations on its sovereignty saying London has created a forced British population on the islands.
“A profound error was expelling the Argentine population from the Malvinas Islands in 1833, violating rights that the Prime Minister says he defends, and implanting, under a forced colonialist plan; a British population,” the statement said.
London has repeatedly claimed it would only negotiate Malvinas’ sovereignty if its population agree they want Argentine rule.
However, the United Nations considers the territory as one of British colonies that should be liberated.