MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean President Kast backs Argentine claim over Falklands in first state visit to Buenos Aires

Milei thanked Kast “on behalf of the Argentine government for the traditional support of the Chilean government on the Malvinas Islands Question.” Photo: Juan Mabromata / AFP

Chilean President José Antonio Kast formally backed Argentina's sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and surrounding maritime areas during his first state visit to Buenos Aires, where he met his counterpart Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada.

In a joint communiqué issued by both foreign ministries after the meeting, Kast “reiterated the Chilean government's support for the legitimate sovereignty rights of the Argentine Republic” over the archipelagos and “reaffirmed the need for the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to resume negotiations in order to find, as soon as possible, a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and other regional and multilateral forums.”

Milei thanked Kast “on behalf of the Argentine government for the traditional support of the Chilean government on the Malvinas Islands Question,” according to the official text.

The statement comes just four days after Milei led the central ceremony marking Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Malvinas War Day on April 2, where he reaffirmed that the dispute “continues to be recognized by the United Nations as a special and particular colonial situation” and called for progress toward a solution through “mature and sincere dialogue” with the United Kingdom.

Broad bilateral agenda

The two presidents met for over ninety minutes in the presidential office alongside members of their cabinets, in an encounter the joint communiqué framed within “a forward-looking agenda based on the defense of shared values of liberty, democracy, life and property, and the promotion of economic growth.”

“This is a historic moment for achieving greater integration between both nations,” Kast said at a press conference held afterward at the Chilean embassy. The Chilean president highlighted cooperation opportunities in mining, energy, trade and tourism, noting that both countries can strengthen each other — alongside Bolivia — in combating organized crime.

Both governments agreed to advance the modernization of border crossings and the digitalization of control procedures, as well as mechanisms to deepen intelligence sharing on security and the fight against transnational organized crime.

The Apablaza case

The extradition of former Chilean guerrilla member Galvarino Apablaza, accused of masterminding the 1991 assassination of Senator Jaime Guzmán, featured prominently in the talks. Chilean Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna thanked his Argentine counterpart Pablo Quirno for the “efforts deployed and support provided” in the extradition process.

Kast noted that the Milei administration had done “much more than in previous years” on the case. Milei signed the extradition order on March 11, the same day he attended Kast's inauguration ceremony in Santiago. However, when Interpol and Argentine judicial authorities raided Apablaza's home in the Buenos Aires suburb of Moreno last Thursday, the former guerrilla member was not found and remains a fugitive.

“Sooner or later, the fugitive Apablaza will answer before the courts,” Kast said, urging “every Argentine” with information on his whereabouts to come forward. Apablaza's lawyer, Rodolfo Yanzón, filed a complaint with the United Nations Committee Against Torture seeking immediate intervention to halt the proceedings, arguing that his client's refugee status remains in force until definitively resolved by the courts, AFP reported.

The visit, which followed the Chilean diplomatic tradition of choosing Argentina as a new president's first international destination, was curtailed by a severe storm that forced the cancellation of a planned wreath-laying ceremony at Plaza San Martín. The Chilean delegation returned to Santiago after the embassy press conference.