Saturday, January 3, 2015

Argentina marks 182 years since British 'illegitimate occupation' of Malvinas

Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman shows a photograph of the disputed area during a conference, ratifying Argentina''s sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands.

The federal government has ratified Argentina’s “imprescriptible sovereignty rights” over the Malvinas Islands, marking the 182nd anniversary of the British occupation of the South Atlantic territories.

In an official statement released today, the Foreign Ministry said the resource-rich archipelago was “occupied by British forces that evicted the Argentine population and authorities that had set up there legitimately.”

The text ratified the “imprescriptible rights of sovereignty of the Republic of Argentina over the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime spaces, which are an integrating part of the national territory.”

In that sense, the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration renewed its condemnation of the “British illegitimate colonial occupation” of the Islands, “aggravated by the provocative and defying rejection of the United Kingdom to resume sovereignty negotiations as established in the in-force mandate of the United Nations.”

In today’s statement, the government also strongly questioned the “unilateral activities of exploration and exploitation of renewable and non-renewable natural resources in Argentine maritime spaces” that the UK continues to “perpetrate” in the disputed area.

Likewise, the office commanded by Minister Héctor Timerman blasted the British “ongoing military presence in the South Atlantic” which “has prompted growing rejection and concern expressions not only in the region,” rallying support among Latin American and Caribbean blocs, but also from the G77 plus China group which “has expressively acknowledged the right of the Argentine Republic to start legal actions” against “non-authorized” hydrocarbon exploitation and exploration activities that the UK carries out in the country’s maritime spaces.

“Evoking 182 years since the eviction, the Argentine government reiterates, once more, its permanent and sincere disposition to resume the bilateral negotiating process with the United Kingdom, as the international community demands.”