MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' governor interview triggers immediate reaction from Argentina

Timerman said he agreed with only one paragraph of the whole interview

Falklands Island's' newly inaugurated governor Colin Roberts phone interview with a Buenos Aires media website released this week has had a great impact in Argentina and as it could be expected received an immediate reply from Hector Timerman's Foreign Affairs ministry, which undoubtedly read every line and every word of the transcript.

 Media statements from Colin Roberts, 'illegitimately' nominated Malvinas Islands 'colonial governor' by the British Crown, indicate, in one of its paragraphs, a coincidence with Argentina's historic position regarding bilateral dialogue (on sovereignty), said the brief release from Argentina's Foreign Ministry in reply to governor Roberts interview.

”Our country (Argentina) agrees that the controversy over the Malvinas Islands demands direct dialogue between our Foreign minister Hector Timerman and Foreign Secretary William Hague.

With this purpose minister Timerman has repeatedly offered to hold a bilateral dialogue with Hague, who has systematically rejected it“, argues the official release.

Likewise the ministry through its Secretariat relative to Malvinas and other South Atlantic islands affairs, considers that other aspects of the interview in which the governor imposed by the British Crown refers to the Malvinas situation, ”exhibits a deep lack of knowledge on International Law, of the will from the international community expressed in UN and other multilateral regional organizations' resolutions, and of the policies advanced by the Argentine government since the recovery of democracy in 1983, in which it has reiterated that the only possible path to advance in the (Malvinas) sovereignty issue is through peace, dialogue and diplomacy as established in the conditions from UN Resolution 2065”, concludes the release.

In the interview Governor Roberts accused the Argentine government of “bullying” Falkland Islanders and berated President Cristina Fernández administration, saying it should “behave better.”

“There have been a series of actions and declarations by the Argentine government in the last few years that have been designed to damage the economy and suffocate the capacities of the Islands’ inhabitants,” Roberts said, in the interview given to Infobae in which Roberts claimed Argentine government “bullying”.

“For the Islanders there is a large degree of resentment because the Argentine government bullies us. They feel mistreated because of the government’s actions,” he said, noting the example of Argentina’s “criminalization of those involved in the oil and gas industry or attempts to stop cruise ships from travelling to the Islands.”

“Basic human nature suggests that a long period of time in which Argentina behaves well will have to pass before the Islanders feel open to thinking about a different government,” he added.

Governor Roberts also made assurances that British military forces were not planning on leaving the Falklands any time soon and vehemently denied that there was a NATO nuclear base in the Islands.

Roberts also praised the positive atmosphere on the Islands, which he attributed to “the confidence they had gained with the referendum” that occurred on March 2013 when the majority of Falkland Islanders voted in favor of remaining a British Overseas Territory.

The newly inaugurated governor also mocked Argentina's Cristina Fernandez claims made on the 32nd anniversary of the start the Falklands/Malvinas war, (when the Argentine military invasion of the Islands) that there was a NATO base on the Falklands.

“Just the suggestion that there is a NATO base is so ridiculous that it makes the whole world laugh... and to suggest that there are nuclear weapons is really foolish.”

Roberts claimed that the only military personnel on the Falklands were the minimum required, and that the UK believed sufficient to defend them from any Argentine attack.