MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina needs strong economy to be heard regarding Malvinas, Milei says

“Nobody listens to or respects a country that only produces poverty and whose politicians despise their own forces,” Milei argued

Argentine President Javier Milei claimed that Argentina's claim over the Malvinas Islands has not been heard internationally given the country's poor management and economic back-to-back failures. He made those remarks Tuesday during the main event marking the 42nd anniversary of the military landing that triggered the 1982 South Atlantic war with the United Kingdom over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands.

The ceremony was held in Buenos Aires at the cenotaph in the Retiro neighborhood just across the street from what was once known as Plaza de los Ingleses (Square of the English) now rebranded as the Plaza de la Fuerza Aérea.

Alongside Milei was Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, herself a daughter of a 1982 War veteran.

“The best tribute to those who gave their lives for our country is to defend the unwavering claim for Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia, South Sandwich, and the surrounding maritime areas, but a real and sincere claim, not mere words in international forums, with no impact on reality and that only serve the politician of the day to show false love for the country,” Milei said.

“We have been tired of listening to politicians beating their chests defending our just claim for the Islands over the last decades, without having a single result to show for it after all these years,” he went on.

The Libertarian leader added that “for sovereign claims to be heard and respected, it is a necessary condition first that the country and its leadership be respected since no one would take seriously the claim of serial defaulters, corrupt or political leaders who rather than a vision of the country, what they defend is a business model.”

“For a sovereign nation to be respected in the concert of nations there are two essential conditions that must be met: that nation must be a protagonist in international trade and it must also have armed forces capable of defending its territory against anyone who tries to invade it. Nobody listens to or respects a country that only produces poverty and whose politicians despise their own forces. Argentina, a product of the political leadership of the last decades, has not fulfilled any of these conditions,” Milei argued.

“It is no coincidence that little or no progress has been made in the claim for our islands: we are, after decades, the first government to take charge of this situation and to have a clear course to be a truly prosperous and sovereign country,” he insisted. “There is no sovereignty without economic prosperity and, as all empirical evidence shows, there is no economic prosperity without economic freedom.”

The head of state also defended the reforms introduced by his administration so that Argentines may once again “be free and that from this freedom a strong and prosperous nation may emerge with real power to claim its sovereignty and be respected by other nations.”

Milei, known for his admiration of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister during the 1982 conflict, also called for “a new era of reconciliation with the Armed Forces.”

“There is no sovereignty if politicians do their best to discredit our Armed Forces. To the heroes of Malvinas I say that, in this new Argentina, they will have the respect they have long been denied. I do not want this to be the monopoly of a political space.”

“That is why I call for a new era of reconciliation of society with the Armed Forces, giving them the recognition and support they deserve,” he added.

Villarruel will be handing over diplomas to former combatants at the Upper House together with members of the Commission of Relatives of the Fallen on Wednesday, it was reported.

Late on Monday, the governors of the Argentina Patagonia provinces convened at Río Grande in Tierra del Fuego for the traditional yearly vigil which was attended by no federal dignitary.

Governors Rolando Figueroa (Neuquén), Ignacio Torres (Chubut), and Claudio Vidal (Santa Cruz) joined Tierra del Fuego's Gustavo Melella for the event while the governors of Río Negro and La Pampa adhered to the ceremony as the region deepened its rift with the Libertarian administration in Buenos Aires and challenge Milei's so-called “May Pact” plans.