KIRCHNER V CAMERON - IT'S THOSE ISLANDS AGAIN AND SHE'S GOT DOMESTIC PROBLEMS ....

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's letter to David Cameron
Read the letter about the Falkland Islands from the Argentinian president to the British prime minster

Mr Prime Minister David Cameron,

One hundred and eighty years ago on the same date, January 3rd, in a blatant exercise of 19th-century colonialism, Argentina was forcibly stripped of the Malvinas Islands, which are situated 14,000km (8700 miles) away from London.

The Argentines on the Islands were expelled by the Royal Navy and the United Kingdom subsequently began a population implantation process similar to that applied to other territories under colonial rule.

Since then, Britain, the colonial power, has refused to return the territories to the Argentine Republic, thus preventing it from restoring its territorial integrity.

The Question of the Malvinas Islands is also a cause embraced by Latin America and by a vast majority of peoples and governments around the world that reject colonialism.

In 1960, the United Nations proclaimed the necessity of "bringing to an end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations". In 1965, the General Assembly adopted, with no votes against (not even by the United Kingdom), a resolution considering the Malvinas Islands a colonial case and inviting the two countries to negotiate a solution to the sovereignty dispute between them.

This was followed by many other resolutions to that effect.

In the name of the Argentine people, I reiterate our invitation for us to abide by the resolutions of the United Nations.

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
President of the Argentine Republic

Cc: Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

And the response:

The renewed demand by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for the Falklands to be handed back to Argentina elicited a defiant response from the UK and Falkland governments , with David Cameron vowing to do everything he could to protect the islanders' desire to remain British.

The prime minister rejected Fernández's call to restore the Falklands's "territorial integrity" by returning them to Argentina. The islanders are due to vote in a referendum in March that is expected to give overwhelming backing for the territory to remain British.

"The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland islanders themselves, the people who live there," said Cameron. "Whenever they have been asked their opinion they have said they want to retain their current status with the UK. They are holding a referendum this year and I hope the president of Argentina will listen to that referendum and recognise it is for the Falkland islanders to choose their future, and for as long as they choose to stay with the UK they have my 100% backing."

The Argentinian president made her latest intervention over the Falklands 180 years to the day after the islands were "forcibly stripped" from her country. In a caustic letter to Cameron, which was also published as an advert in the Guardian and the Independent on Thursday, she accused the British government of "colonialism".

The Foreign Office criticised the Argentinian government for ignoring the wishes of the islanders and rejecting any prospect of imminent negotiations, as demanded by Fernández. In a series of tweets, it said: "The people of the Falklands are British and have chosen to be so. They remain free to choose their own futures and have a right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN charter. There are three parties to this debate, not just two, as Argentina likes to pretend. There can be no negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until such time as the islanders so wish."

The Foreign Office disputes Fernández's claim in the letter that "Argentines on the islands were expelled by the Royal Navy and the United Kingdom subsequently began a population implantation process similar to that applied to other territories under colonial rule". It says there was no civilian population on the island in 1833, with the Royal Navy expelling an Argentine military garrison that had arrived three months earlier.

There was an angry response from the Falklands, with many people taking to Twitter to hail the islands' relationship with Britain. The @falklands_utd account , which supports the right to self-determination, tweeted: "Through our right to self-determination we choose to maintain our relationship with Great Britain … Kirchner can write as many letters as she wishes. They carry less weight than the paper they were written on." There was also some criticism of UK papers for running the advert by the Argentinian government.

Barry Elsby, a member of the islands' legislative assembly, dismissed Fernández's claim that the Falklands was a UK colony. "We understand that the Argentine government has put out a letter that both calls our home a colony and claims that the United Kingdom is ignoring United Nations general assembly resolutions," he said. "We are not a colony. Our relationship with the United Kingdom is by choice. Unlike the government of Argentina, the United Kingdom respects the right of our people to determine our own affairs, a right that is enshrined in the UN charter and which is ignored by Argentina."

Thirty years after Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week battle over the Falklands, Fernández has embarked on a sustained diplomatic campaign to attempt to assert Argentina's sovereignty claim, which has seen her clash with Cameron over recent months. With her approval rating flagging ahead of mid-term legislative elections in October, the renewal of hostilities is likely to strengthen the perception of some critics that she is trying to draw attention away from domestic problems by attempting to unite Argentinians behind the "Malvinas" cause.

In the letter, Fernández notes that the islands are 8,700 miles away from London and says that not only Latin America but the "vast majority of peoples and governments around the world" embrace Argentina's claim and "reject colonialism".

In an indication of the passions the issue still arouses, #Malvinas was one of the top 10 worldwide trending topics on Twitter at one point on Thursday, although there was also a surge of support for British sovereignty under the Falklands hashtag.

God, not her at it again. The Falkland Islands are hardly on the doorstep of Argentina being some 1,000 miles away.

Maybe it's to do with her ancestry, half Spanish, half German, - descended from colonialists? And her late husband was half Croatian, half Swiss German - I don't see any Argentinian descent om either side, do you? At least Cameron is a full Brit, not some mixed blood, like her! LL

ETA Didn't a lot of ex-nazis flee to Argentina after WW2? Just asking ....

What a cheek, LL. Blooming immigrant.
Aren't The Falkland Islanders mainly descended from The Scots? And very little interbreeding of any kind with foreigners, although some of the girls have married British Servicemen over the years, and incoming relatives from existing families.
As far as I can see no one has taken much notice of the place for many years prior to Argentina shouting the odd claim when it needs to cover up internal disasters.
I actually thought the islands were off Scotland before the War.

She's trying to big up her public image with the Argies. She's in quite a lot of domestic trouble as the country sinks deeper and deeper into the red. I would suggest that she does something about the oppressed original native Indians before she starts in on the Brits. The UK doesn't have poverty and child deaths from malnutrition like they do. Also I believe there are minerals assets, oil, gas etc under the sea near the Islands, and she sees it as a way to help Argentina recover. Many countries do NOT support her; even some in Latin America think she is addled in the brain!! LL

So, with her being against colonialism, she and her government will be resigning instantly and handing the country over to the descendants of the tribes displaced by European invaders?

No? Is that different?

The Argentine has had some very dodgy Presidents over the years of my lifetime, bumping off people wholesale at one point, presuming they aren't still doing it now. Not to forget the luxurious life styles of some of these Presidents. No wonder they are in debt. Same old bloody same old.
Of course she is after the gas and oil. But I doubt she would be daft enough to send in another bunch of inexperienced school boys to fight and die in another war.
My sons went to school with a couple of Royal Marines who were sent to The Falklands, and their tales were not funny. Most of these young kids didn't have a clue. Tragic really.

Here we go again....

http://news.sky.com/story/1033203/falklands-row-suns-argentina-ad-warns-kirchner

Silly woman. There is nothing to discuss. The inhabitants of The Falkland Islands ARE British, and have been since they first settled there. And no one is going to hand them over to Argentina.