MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Zero in Argentine geography: Malvinas are Falklands (GB)

School text books distributed by an Argentine provincial government identify the Islas Malvinas as the “Falklands” with the GB for Great Britain next to the map. The error (blooper¿?) triggered a strong reaction from the local chapter of the Malvinas veterans and the provincial congress.

The northern province of Salta, neighboring with Bolivia is responsible for the distribution in the public school system of the text book for fifth graders, which also has many other orthographic and conceptual errors, reports Radio Salta on its website. The "Falklands" instead of Malvinas map, plus the GB, is published in page 89 of the fifth grade book. "This is a complete lack of commitment and respect for the Malvinas gest", said Emilio Lopez president of the local chapter of Malvinas war Veterans. He asked for an immediate solution to the problem and error committed, although he also underlined that "taking the books back is no solution". Salta although rich in mineral and agricultural resources is one of Argentina's poorest provinces. The teachers union and the local Congress also reacted calling for the provincial government to get rid of the books not only from schools but from libraries and requested an immediate correction of the cartographic curricula for the province. "The objective is to make clear the legitimacy of Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas and other South Atlantic islands", said an official release from the Salta Senate. Apparently the local Publisher Inti Raymi of the book said it would distribute adhesives to schools to ensure "the national conviction that the Malvinas islands are Argentine".