Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, November 19, 2023. LUIS ROBAYO / AFP
During his campaign, the new Argentine president considered that “the sovereignty of Argentina” over this British archipelago was “non-negotiable”. In 1982, Argentina failed to recover it during the Falklands War.
Javier Milei’s positions have caused a lot of ink to flow. Elected this November 20 with 55.95% of the vote, the new ultraliberal president of Argentina is opposed to abortion and climate skeptic. He proposes abolishing the central bank and replacing the peso with the dollar. He wants to privatize public companies and reduce the number of ministries to the bare minimum.
But one of his proposals went almost unnoticed. While he was only a candidate in the campaign, Javier Milei affirmed that “Argentina’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands is non-negotiable“. A position that may seem extravagant, but which is rather classic and consensual in Argentina.
Made up of two main islands and over 750 smaller islands covering an area of 12,000 kmm2the Falklands archipelago – “Falkland Islands» for English speakers – has around 3000 souls. In 1833, British settlers expelled the Argentine settlers and established the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
In April 1982, the ruling military junta attempted to take control by force and declared war on the United Kingdom. Margaret Thatcher’s reaction is worthy of the nickname “Iron Lady»: the British fleet is sent to the other end of the Atlantic. At the end of a three-month war, which resulted in 649 deaths on the Argentine side and 258 on the British side (including three islanders), the Argentine army was defeated.
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“War is not a solution”
Since then, Argentine heads of state have always contested British sovereignty over the archipelago, from the radical Raúl Alfonsin (1983-1989) to Alberto Fernandez (2019-2023), including the Peronist Cristina Kirchner (2007-2015). In 2012, thirty years after the war, the Argentine parliament wanted to reaffirm its claims to the archipelago with the Ushuaïa Declaration. In reality, Javier Milei took up a classic diplomatic position as a campaign proposal.
“There is a national consensus on this issue, because the Falklands War is an Argentinian trauma», explains Christophe Ventura, specialist in Latin America and research director at IRIS, the Institute of International and Strategic Relations. “All political leaders are on this line, it goes without saying, it is an identity marker, continues the researcherit’s a bit like supporting the football team.»
Last September, in the middle of the presidential campaign, he declared on a television set that “Argentina’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands is non-negotiable. The Falklands are Argentinian. (…) Now we have to see how we are going to get them back. It is clear that the option of war is not a solution.» In another television interview, he said: “We had a war – which we lost – and now we must do everything possible to reclaim the islands diplomatically.»
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London remains inflexible
Concretely, Javier Milei proposes to negotiate with the United Kingdom a solution comparable to that of Hong Kong: a British colony from 1841, the territory was returned to China in 1997. The Argentine president admits that it is also necessary to take into account the opinions of those who live on these islands, who “cannot be ignored“.
However, in 2013, 99.8% of the 3,000 residents of Saint-Malo voted in a referendum to retain their status as a British Overseas Territory. “The Falkland Islands are British. It is non-negotiable and undeniable, warned Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps on X (ex-Twitter)99.8% (Sic.) of the islanders voted to remain British and we will always defend their right to self-determination and the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.» The British government regularly reaffirms that no negotiations are possible on the issue.