
MercoPress this week received a letter from reader Michael (“Ted”) Jones, a farmer at Head of the Bay —a settlement located in the immediate vicinity of the site where British forces landed on 21 May 1982—, in response to the Landing Day ceremonies led on Thursday by the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly. Both Jones and his wife Shelia were at Green Beach Port San Carlos during the war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over sovereignty of the archipelago. We publish his message below.

The Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly on Thursday issued an official statement commemorating Landing Day, the date that recalls the arrival of British forces at San Carlos Bay on 21 May 1982, during the war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over sovereignty of the archipelago. The institutional declaration pays tribute to “the courage and sacrifice of those who came to restore our freedom and right to self-determination” and emphasizes that “the service of all who supported the liberation of our Islands will never be forgotten.”

A new study indicates that the adaptable marine birds evolved into distinct lineages as isolated populations shifted to match their environmental conditions over time. The work has implications for how conservationists assess threats to Gentoos. (Piece by Carlyn Kranking, Associate Web Editor, Science, Communications Biology)

Reaffirming the close relationship and collaboration members from the Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC) team led a coalition of Falkland Islands businesses for the inaugural Marketplace Expo during the International Association for Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) Annual meeting, which was held in late April, in Annapolis, Maryland, USA.

Rockhopper Exploration (AIM:RKH), has highlighted progress at the Sea Lion oil development in the North Falkland Basin, operated by Navitas Petroleum. The first two phases will use the Aoka Mizu FPSO with capacity of 55,000 barrels per day, while a new memorandum of understanding for a second FPSO could lift total capacity by a further 125,000 barrels per day, significantly expanding the project’s production potential if implemented.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, represented the Government of Gibraltar at an online meeting of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association to prepare for this year’s Joint Ministerial Council in November.

Javier Milei's government on Wednesday announced the signing of a letter of intent with the United States for joint patrolling of the South Atlantic over the next five years, in a military cooperation agreement that ratifies Buenos Aires's strategic alignment with the Donald Trump administration and that has triggered alarms over Argentine sovereignty in its maritime spaces. The agreement, signed by the US Southern Command and Argentine Navy authorities, involves the supply of US technology to modernize the South American country's naval equipment and, at the same time, authorizes the participation of US forces in patrolling the Argentine southern sea.

May is a month of commemoration for the population of the Falkland Islands, as the 44th anniversary of the Argentine armed invasion falls this month — an occupation that was defeated and expelled following the landing of the Task Force dispatched by London.

The Falkland Islands are going through their traditional “commemoration season,” the cycle of ceremonies that recall the 1982 war each year, culminating in Liberation Day on 14 June, at a moment defined by two overlapping realities: the consolidation of the archipelago as a small economic power in the South Atlantic and the reactivation of diplomatic tensions with the United States and Argentina. A feature published on Saturday by the British newspaper The Sunday Times, written by Matthew Campbell from Fitzroy, captures the contrast between growing economic prosperity and the anxiety generated by the recent leak of a Pentagon memorandum.

Watch our new short film exploring arts and culture in the Falkland Islands. Released alongside the latest exhibition by celebrated Ceramicist and Islander Graham Bound, the film features local artists sharing their work and speaking about how the Falklands insp them.