Argentina protests the launching of British missiles from the Falkland Islands

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Argentine government, on Thursday, April 29, protested the launching of Rapier missiles from the Falkland Islands by the United Kingdom, a country with which it disputes sovereignty over the South Atlantic archipelago, known in Spanish as the Malvinas.

According to a statement from the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Kingdom – which has held sovereignty over the islands, claimed by Argentina, since 1833 – initiated between Monday and Wednesday of this week “military maneuvers in illegitimately occupied Argentine territory”, which included the launching of”missiles.

“These maneuvers constitute an unjustified show of force and once again disregard the calls of the numerous resolutions of the United Nations and other international bodies, which urge both Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume negotiations, in order to find a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute,” the text argues.

These exercises were carried out weeks after the government of Argentina sent “a strong note of protest” to its British counterpart after learning of these exercises, denouncing the situation to the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, and to the International Maritime Organization.

According to the Argentine government, such launches violate General Assembly Resolution 41/11 on a Zone of Peace and Cooperation in the South Atlantic, which urges States to respect “scrupulously” the South Atlantic as a “zone of peace and cooperation”. In addition, Argentina says Resolution 31/49 of the UN General Assembly is violated by the “persistence” of the United Kingdom in carrying out military exercises in the South Atlantic.

The Argentine government also issued a “nautical warning” with the objective that maritime traffic in the area should not be “endangered by the illegitimate British military exercises”.

“These military maneuvers demonstrate once again that the illegitimate occupation of Malvinas is the excuse for the establishment of a disproportionate military base,” asserted the Foreign Ministry, adding that currently, the detachment has 1,200 troops in the Mount Pleasant RAF base and another 300 civilians performing support tasks.

In any case, “in the face of this new act of hostility”, the Argentine Government once again reiterated its “willingness to negotiate with the British Government to settle the sovereignty disputes over the islands.”