British Prime Minister David Cameron accused Argentina of colonialism towards the Falklands and warned that Britain was ready to defend them, stoking up tensions 30 years after the two countries went to war.
Argentina’s increasingly strong rhetoric over the British islands in the South Atlantic archipelago, which Buenos Aires claims as its own, was condemned by Mr Cameron in the Commons.
He revealed that Britain’s National Security Council had met on Tuesday to review its military plans for the territory, saying he was determined our defences and everything else was in order.
“The key point is we support the Falkland Islanders’ right to self-determination,” Mr Cameron said, referring to the 3,000 residents of the remote territory.
“What the Argentinians have been saying recently, I would argue, is actually far more like colonialism because these people want to remain British and the Argentinians want them to do something else.”
His comments spark-ed a furious response in Argentina, with Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo telling reporters they were totally offensive, especially coming from Great Britain.
Foreign Minister Hector Timerman added: “Obviously at a time when there are only remnants of colonialism, Great Britain, in an imperial decline, decides to rewrite history.”
The heated exchange was the latest in a long dispute over the Falklands, the self-governing islands located 400 nautical miles from Argentina. They have been held by Britain since 1833 but are still claimed by Argentina, where they are known as the Malvinas, despite its defeat in the 74-day war fought between the two countries in 1982. Tensions began rising in 2010, when London authorised oil prospecting around the islands, and have spiralled in recent weeks as Argentina’s neighbours joined the dispute.
In December, South American trading bloc Mercosur agreed to close its ports to ships flying the Falklands flag.
And during British Foreign Secretary William Hague’s first official visit to Brazil on Wednesday, his counterpart, Antonio Patriota, made clear that all Latin American nations backed Argentina’s claim.
The imminent deployment to the Falklands of Prince William, the second in line to the British throne who works as a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force, is unlikely to calm the waters. Although the RAF insists his six-week visit is a routine mission, Argentina has said it is a provocative act. The National Security Council meeting was sparked by the 30th anniversary of Argentina’s invasion of the Falklands in April, a government spokeswoman said, and concluded: “W e have the right strategy in place to defend the islands.”
But concerns have been raised that Britain’s military power would struggle to defend the islands from another Argentine attack following deep cuts in its defence budget and commitments in flashpoints abroad.
British marines during the Falklands war.