Tension rises: the Foreign Office summoned the ambassador to London to express his "disappointment" with the Argentine government

The tenth anniversary of the referendum by which 99.83% of the inhabitants of the Falklands expressed their desire to continue being British arrives recharged. 

Although the referendum was not binding but very symbolic, tensions with London increase as that date approaches, next March 10 and 11.

The director general for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean of the Foreign Office, Corin Robertson, reported this Friday that she had summoned the Argentine ambassador in London, Javier Figueroa, to express the United Kingdom's annoyance at the recent announcement by the foreign minister, Santiago Cafiero, that abandon a bilateral agreement.

In a similar vein, the islanders said they felt "disappointed" and stated that the discussions about their sovereignty "are not negotiable."

The entire British government rejected that Cafiero withdraw a joint communiqué signed in 2016, which in addition to establishing a series of areas of multilateral, bilateral cooperation -which in reality are still being carried out- addressed the sovereignty conflict in the South Atlantic with short-term goals long term.

Cafiero communicated it after meeting with his peer, James Cleverly in New Delhi, in a section of a G20 meeting.

"Unfortunate that Argentina has moved away from our 2016 Joint Communiqué, which benefited the UK, #FalklandIslands and Argentina, and which facilitated the work to identify remains of people who died in 1982. Today I summoned the Ambassador of Argentina to register the disappointment of the United Kingdom,"

Robertson said Friday on his Twitter account.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Cleverly had been tougher, retweeted by British Ambassador Kirsty Hayes.

"The Falkland Islands are British. The islanders have the right to decide their own future: they have chosen to remain a self-governing British Overseas Territory," he wrote, retweeting Cafiero who had written: "Malvinas issue: Argentina notified the decision to end the" Foradori-Duncan Pact” of 2016. I did it in a meeting with the UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, James Cleverly, at the @g20org Foreign Ministers Summit in New Delhi, India."

And in another message he stated that he had asked Cleverly to "resume negotiations on the question of sovereignty" and that for this he was promoting a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York.

All communication about this decision by Cafiero had a cryptic course.

To begin with, the British Vice Chancellor, David Ruttley, recently met in Buenos Aires with his counterpart, Pablo Tettamanti, who hid from him what was coming or did not know anything about what Cafiero was going to do, on the advice of the Secretary of the Area Malvinas, Guillermo Carmona.

Ultranationalist, Carmona soaked up these issues while being a deputy and advised by the former ambassador, in London Alicia Castro, of harsh Christian positions.

Tettamanty did not say anything to Ruttley, who joined in the rejection of Cafiero's decision.

They also did not inform Ambassador Figueroa, who has an active and pragmatic agenda in London, and who recently received the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royon, and the one from CONICET, Ana Franchin, both looking for investments and energy cooperation and in science and technology.

It is Sergio Massa's agenda.

All this fell into the current part of the statement signed with Great Britain in 2016 between the governments of Mauricio Macri and Theresa May.

However, Alberto Fernández and his former foreign minister, Felipe Solá, had already canceled the agreement in the Malvinas area, that of "removing oil and fishing obstacles" to the islands imposed by Cristina Kirchner.

However, they had not objected, as they now do to the identification process of the fallen Argentines buried in the Darwin cemetery.

To tell the truth, the same, the work was successfully completed between 2017 and 2019. 

For this reason, it is striking that they affirm that they are removing what was already in disuse.

And that everything falls, what it does to the fight against drug trafficking, investments, commerce, just months after the end of the Government.

What is new is that they confirm that they will not allow the weekly Latam flight from San Pablo to Mount Pleasant, which once a month landed in Cordoba, to be reactivated.

What does the statement from the Islands say. 

"The members of the Legislative Assembly are disappointed to learn of Argentina's decision to put an end to the 2016 "Foradori-Duncan Pact", "begins the island's communication this Friday.

"This pact sought to improve trade and security relations between the UK and Argentina, but also secured agreement to identify the remains of unknown Argentine soldiers buried near Darwin. The Falkland Islands have supported two humanitarian projects where at least 115 soldiers have been identified and have brought comfort to their families in Argentina".

Meanwhile, the president of the Legislative Assembly, MLA Leona Roberts, said: “It is very disappointing that Argentina has taken this decision, but it is not unusual.

Living in the Falkland Islands, unfortunately we are very used to Argentina breaking their agreements."

He assured that they supported the humanitarian work related to the Argentine war dead and that they continued

But Roberts noted that, despite this, "the current Argentine government would not engage in talks to support the health of the oceans in the South West Atlantic or work to remove illegally imposed economic sanctions that restrict the freedoms of the people of the Falkland Islands as It had been agreed. We are saddened that all the hard work we have done since 2016 will be another example that Argentina is not old enough to speak to our country on issues that will also support its development and are of regional and global importance."

He ended by saying: “Discussions about our sovereignty are non-negotiable.

10 years ago, the people of the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly (99.8%) in favor of remaining a British Overseas Territory and that sentiment has not changed.

We are a distinct and democratic society and the Falkland Islanders demonstrated to the world again in 2022, on our 40th anniversary, how forever grateful we are to the UK for helping us through 1982 and how committed we remain to being part of the UK family.

living in freedom under the government of our choice.”