David Cameron has said he will "do everything" to protect the interests of the Falkland islanders following a demand by Argentina's populist president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, to hand back the islands, 30 years after Britain and Argentina went to war over them.
In a stinging letter to Cameron, Fernández urged the UK to abide by a 1960 United Nations resolution urging member states to "end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations".
Britain should begin negotiations over the sovereignty of the islands, which were "forcibly stripped" from Argentina exactly 180 years ago, on 3 January 1833, she tells the prime minister.
But a spokesman for Cameron said that the people of the Falklands had shown "a clear desire to remain British" and the prime minister would "do everything to protect the interests of the Falklands islanders". The islanders are due to vote in a referendum in March, which is expected to give overwhelming backing for the territory to remain British. The prime minister's spokesman said the Argentinian government should abide by the result.
Fernández's letter is published as an advert (pdf) in Thursday's Guardian and other newspapers. Fernández acidly notes that the "Malvinas" are 8,700 miles away from London and claims, controversially, that the Royal Navy expelled the Argentinians who originally lived on the remote South Atlantic territory. Replacing them with British settlers was, she says, a "blatant exercise in 19th-century colonialism".
Fernández's diplomatic broadside follows the British government's decision last month to name a large frozen chunk of Antarctica after the Queen – a gesture viewed in Buenos Aires as provocative. Argentina also lays claim to what is now Queen Elizabeth Land, as well as to other South Atlantic dependencies including South Georgia and the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands.
The president and her advisers seem convinced that by keeping the issue of the Falklands in the public eye she can embarrass London into eventual negotiations. In her letter, Fernández claims not only Latin America but also the "vast majority of peoples and governments around the world" embrace Argentina's claim and "reject colonialism".
Critics suggest that Fernández, an unashamed populist and nationalist, is seeking to deflect attention from social disharmony at home. The president's approval rating is sagging ahead of mid-term legislative elections in October. Argentinians support the "Malvinas" cause, which is written into the constitution. But they are also worried about pressing economic problems such as inflation, rising crime and corruption.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has categorically ruled out any new negotiations, saying the future of the Falklands can only be decided by the islanders themselves in accordance with the UN principle of self-determination.
The FCO also disputes Fernández's claim that Britain kicked out the island's original Argentinian inhabitants. It says there was no civilian population on the island in 1833, with the Royal Navy expelling an Argentinian military garrison that had arrived three months earlier.
"We can't talk about sovereignty unless and until the Falkland islanders agree to it," the FCO said.
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