The Argentine Olympic Committee has responded for the first time to an advertisement on state-run TV that links a dispute with Britain about the Falklands/Malvinas Islands to the London Games.
President Cristina Fernández said in relation to the controversial Olympic/Malvinas advert that “creativity can’t be censored”, on the contrary it should be “applauded” because it reflects the feelings of the Argentines. The head of state also rejected lifting the spot as demanded by Britain and the Y&R agency in New York.
The controversial Malvinas/Olympics advert promoted by the Argentine government ahead of the London Games not only has had negative reactions worldwide but has also triggered deep concern among members of the Argentine Olympic team.
Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman replied to recent demands of an apology made by UK Defence Minister Phillip Hammond over a controversial Olympic advert shot in the Falkland Islands, and urged London to “honour the deaths of those who died in the 1982 conflict by constructing peace.”
The creative managing director of Young & Rubicam Buenos Aires said that is spite of the request from the central office in New York it can’t force the Argentine government to withdraw the controversial advert linking the Falklands/Malvinas claim with the coming Olympic Games in London.
Ambassador to London, Alicia Castro, assured that the Malvinas-Olympic Games advert bought by the Argentine Government ‘is not a provocation’ and did not mean to offend the memory of First World War British combatants.
We were very disappointed this morning to see the advert from the Argentine Presidential Office, attempting to politicise the Olympics in service of their territorial ambitions. This video was filmed without the knowledge of the Falkland Islands authorities.
President Cristina Fernández defended Argentine Ambassador to the UK Alicia Castro, who tackled British Foreign Minister William Hague over Falklands/Malvinas Islands dialogue and stressed the fact that “the right to talk cannot be invalidated.”
As was somehow anticipated by Ambassador in UK Alicia Castro’s attitude, Argentina is determined to take advantage of the London Olympic Games global exposure to press for its claims over the Falklands Islands, as part of a plan allegedly called “Sowing for the Malvinas claim”.
By W. Alex Sanchez, Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs - Thirty years after a bloody war between the United Kingdom and Argentina, the longstanding territorial conflict over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands continues to simmer.