
For the first time a man born in the Falkland Islands, will be voting in the coming Argentine elections, according to reports in the Buenos Aires media. The man is Alejandro Betts, 58, who received his Argentine ID at a ceremony in the Argentine embassy before United Nations, and will thus be eligible to cast a ballot in the coming Tierra del Fuego provincial and municipal elections.

Addressing the Americas summit in Panama, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez strongly criticized United States policies towards the hemisphere, particularly Venezuela, and expressed 'surprise' at the parallelism between the Caracas/Washington current dispute and the latest round of Falklands' exchanges between London and her government. President Barack Obama was not present during the Argentine leader's speech on Saturday.

Argentine ambassador in London, Alicia Castro complained about being summoned to the Foreign Office over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands dispute revealing she asked the British official if it was “an expression of British humor or a political paradox”, since the UK has failed to comply with international law for the last five decades.

On the occasion of the 2nd April, when Argentina commemorate the veterans and those fallen in the Malvinas conflict, and following the UK government’s recent announcement to increase military spending in the South Atlantic, the Embassy of Argentina wishes to reiterate the following statements from Ambassador Alicia Castro.

The following column by Alicia Castro (*) was published 02 April by the Independent - On 24 March, the day that a debate was held in Parliament over the increase in defense expenditure for the Malvinas Islands, Argentina was commemorating the anniversary of the 1976 military coup.

Argentina is ‘malvinazing’ (Malvinas) its history, but not through chauvinist patriotism but mature nationalism that seeks international law and peace to recover sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, said president Cristina Fernandez during the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the South Atlantic conflict on 2 April 1982.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez will be the main speaker at the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the start of the Falklands/Malvinas war, to be held April second in the city of Ushuaia and which will also include a political-religious ceremony.

The Argentine government and media agree that the country does not have the military capacity to attack the Falkland Islands as feared by Britain. A report in daily La Nacion points out the Argentine armed forces lack landing crafts, troop transport vessels and even the Mirage fighter planes are banned from flying on cloudy days because of repeated problems with their instruments.

The government of President Cristina Fernandez accused the United Kingdom of using an alleged Argentine threat to the Falkland/Malvinas Islands in order to boost its military budget, while also claiming that the archipelago has been turned into an electoral campaign issue.

United Kingdom Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has dispelled media reports suggesting a surge in troop numbers was likely. Fallon on Tuesday outlined £180 million infrastructure spending plans, but told MPs numbers would remain at around 1,200 military and civilian personnel.