Argentina's leader tells UK to give up Falkland Islands
BC-EU--Britain-Falklands,4th Ld-Writethru
Argentina's leader tells UK to give up Falklands
Eds: Adds comment from Falklands government, byline and taglines.
DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - Argentina's president called on Britain on Thursday to relinquish control of the Falkland Islands, accusing London of taking part in an act of "blatant colonialism" in claiming the wind-swept archipelago.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner published an open letter in the Guardian newspaper urging Prime Minister David Cameron to honor U.N. resolutions which she says backs her case for the return of the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. She has made several similar demands in the past.
"180 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 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) away from London," she says in the letter, copied to U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Britain asserted control of the south Atlantic islands by placing a naval garrison there in 1833. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982 after Argentina invaded the islands. More than 900 people died, most of them Argentines.
Cameron rebuffed the Argentine president's demand that the islands be handed over. "The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland Islanders themselves, the people who live there," the British prime minister said.
He said Kirchner should pay heed to the result of a referendum to be held on the islands this year, noting that whenever the islanders "have been asked their opinion, they say they want to maintain their current status with the United Kingdom."
The government of the Falklands Islands attacked Kirchner's letter as "historically inaccurate," saying that its relationship with the U.K. is "by choice" and based on shared ideals of "democracy, freedom and self-reliance."
The islands have a right, enshrined in the U.N. charter, to determine their own future and have exercised that to retain links with the U.K, the government said in a statement.
"It is this fundamental right that is being ignored by the Argentine Government, who are denying our right to exist as a people, and denying our right to live in our home," the statement said.
Argentina's leader tells UK to give up Falklands
Eds: Adds comment from Falklands government, byline and taglines.
DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - Argentina's president called on Britain on Thursday to relinquish control of the Falkland Islands, accusing London of taking part in an act of "blatant colonialism" in claiming the wind-swept archipelago.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner published an open letter in the Guardian newspaper urging Prime Minister David Cameron to honor U.N. resolutions which she says backs her case for the return of the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. She has made several similar demands in the past.
"180 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 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) away from London," she says in the letter, copied to U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Britain asserted control of the south Atlantic islands by placing a naval garrison there in 1833. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982 after Argentina invaded the islands. More than 900 people died, most of them Argentines.
Cameron rebuffed the Argentine president's demand that the islands be handed over. "The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland Islanders themselves, the people who live there," the British prime minister said.
He said Kirchner should pay heed to the result of a referendum to be held on the islands this year, noting that whenever the islanders "have been asked their opinion, they say they want to maintain their current status with the United Kingdom."
The government of the Falklands Islands attacked Kirchner's letter as "historically inaccurate," saying that its relationship with the U.K. is "by choice" and based on shared ideals of "democracy, freedom and self-reliance."
The islands have a right, enshrined in the U.N. charter, to determine their own future and have exercised that to retain links with the U.K, the government said in a statement.
"It is this fundamental right that is being ignored by the Argentine Government, who are denying our right to exist as a people, and denying our right to live in our home," the statement said.
Well, we know who's side the U.S. will be on. Â Argentina and obama are very close.
This is what it's all about.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Oil_and_Gas
@RalphCramden  That may be fueling the current push (no pun intended) but it certainly is not why Britain put a garrison there in 1833 and it probably not why they fought a war there in 1982 (I think oil was found there more recently than that).Â
 @scared_citizenÂ
The Falklands have never been owned by anyone up until the British took them permanently in the 1833 and have had permanent inhabitants there ever since. Up to that time it was claimed by the French, British and Spanish. Currently it is made up of English, Spanish, French and Argentinians who are now considered Falklanders because they have lived there for generations.
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I expect the Spanish to ask for Guam back sometime in the future. Mexico still considers California and other parts of the SW as being theirs but was taken by force from them by the US.
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At some point every country was owned by some other country. There is no such thing as permanent ownership.
Here we go again !
 @Rob C 503Â
Yeah I wonder how many days this "battle" will go on for.
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I wonder if the Argentinean air force got some new missiles and that's the source for this bluster.
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