Argentina has pledged to regain sovereignty over the islands from Britain
Argentina has committed to reclaiming control of the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean that has been the subject of a territorial dispute with the UK for nearly two centuries. This vow comes after London returned one of its overseas territories, the Chagos Islands, to the island nation of Mauritius on Thursday.
Argentinian Foreign Minister Diana Mondino took to X (formerly Twitter) later in the day to praise London’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, a move that came after decades of negotiations.
“We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices,” wrote Mondino, seemingly referencing the UK’s continued control over some of the territories it occupied during colonial times.
”We will recover full sovereignty over our Malvinas (the Argentine name for the Falklands). The Malvinas were, are, and will always be Argentine,” she added.
The contested archipelago, known in Argentina as Las Islas Malvinas, is situated in the South Atlantic, approximately 600 kilometers off the Argentine mainland. Buenos Aires claims the islands, arguing they were part of its territory when Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1816. The UK has ruled the archipelago since 1833. Argentina and the UK engaged in a ten-week war over the islands in 1982, which resulted in nearly 1,000 casualties and ended in a British victory.
Falklands Governor Alison Blake took to X on Thursday, stating that the UK had an “unwavering commitment” to defending its sovereignty over the islands. She went on to describe the historical context of the Falklands and the Chagos as “very different.”
The Legislative Assembly of the Falklands also released a statement, noting that the local population, numbering around 3,600, had chosen to remain under British control in a 2013 referendum.
Argentine President Javier Milei pledged in May to regain the islands through diplomatic channels and acknowledged that it could take decades to achieve sovereignty from the UK. In April, on the 42nd anniversary of the Falklands War, he promised a “roadmap” for the islands to become Argentine.