Monthly Archives: February 2013

The Falklands or Las Malvinas?

This dispute is very much alive despite the war being 30 years in the past.

In the Argentine port city of Ushuaia from where we departed for our expedition, the news and signage all reference Las Malvinas islands that are ‘occupied’ by British civilians. Along the waterfront there is a long painted sea wall in the Argentine flag colors of light blue and white pronouncing Ushuaia as the capital of Las Malvinas.

At the entrance to the ship dock, there is a painted British flag with a red X through it and words stating that British Pirates may not pass. Recently, two cruise ships were denied entry because it was thought they were British owned. Our own Russian vessel flew the Argentine flag on the bow while in port.

On the other hand, at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, we felt as though we were in a little town in England. Everyone looked and sounded British and drove on the left side of the road. The stores only had British products and food and the Land Rover was the ubiquitous car. There are 3,000 locals and an additional 3,000 contractors and British military.

There is a monument to the liberation of the islands in 1982 (after 79 days of occupation) and to the British soldiers who had died.

In the local island weekly paper (‘The Penguin’, of course), a third of the issue is about the latest national government interactions. The Argentine foreign minister recently refused to attend a meeting with his British counterpart because representatives of the Falklands were to attend…and, as he exclaimed, they don’t exist as there no such thing as a Falklands government. A front page photo showed the British secretary pointing at the empty chair.

Harry