MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands’ referendum at the heart of a controversy in Colombia

A copy of the ‘Malvinas’ twits sent by the UK embassy in Bogotá

A diplomatic ‘gaffe’ referred to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and the recent referendum seems to have been committed by the British embassy in Colombia, gaining great display in the Argentine media.

On the 31st anniversary of the beginning of the South Atlantic conflict over the Falklands when Argentine military invaded the Islands, Tuesday 2 April, the UK embassy in Bogotá surprised on naming the Falklands also as Malvinas.

Apparently this happened in a raft of messages on Twitter sent by the embassy in reference to a local forum on the recent Falklands’ referendum in which the Islanders overwhelmingly both in turnout (92%) and ballot, 99.8% voted to remain a British Overseas Territory.

Argentina has rejected point blank the referendum as ‘illegitimate’ and furthermore does not consider the Falkland Islanders a people.

“We are beginning the live transmission of the Forum Referendum Malvinas Falkland; let us know your opinion in ‘fororeferendo’” wrote the UK embassy in Bogotá repeating the message several times.

The UN denomination for the disputed Islands is Falklands/Malvinas.

The attitude of the UK embassy with ambassador Lindsay Appleby contrasts with the historic position of the Foreign Office which refuses to talk about the ‘Malvinas’ when addressing any issue linked to the disputed South Atlantic islands.

In effect the British ambassador in Chile, Jon Benjamín is not only known for some eclectic outbursts but each time local journalists ask him about the Malvinas his reply is ‘no’, he doesn’t know such a ‘thing’ but yes he will willingly reply about the Falklands.

Likewise the UK embassy site in Buenos Aires in its Spanish version points out that one of its priorities is “to support the rights of the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands”