By John Fowler - Maybe because the days in the Falklands get noticeably shorter from now on and the onset of winter inevitable, April is nobody's favourite month here. To add to the gathering gloom at this time, hardly a year goes by without some journalist – usually Argentinean – ringing the office to ask how we are 'celebrating' the second of April, which marks the anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the Falklands in 1982.
The UK is determined to strengthen relations with Latin America and equally committed to the Falkland Islands right to self-determination, said Foreign Secretary William Hague during a major foreign policy speech at banquet.
Britain will not negotiate with Spain on the question of sovereignty over Gibraltar without the approval of the colony's residents, Premier David Cameron said this week during a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Argentine president Cristina Fernandez are expected to visit Chile in the near future as pressure mounts on the conservative government of President Sebastian Piñera because of the ongoing UK/Argentina diplomatic dispute over the Faklands/Malvinas issue.
“Chile’s support to Argentina’s claim over the Malvinas Islands is a state policy for our country” said Chilean Executive secretary Andres Chadwick, but it does not mean any impediment to that “very special relation we have with the UK”.
“This joke is over” Jose Garcia-Margallo, Spanish Foreign Minister told his British counterpart William Hague this week regarding the Gibraltar sovereignty dispute.
Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman said that Argentina “is not looking to organize a blockade of the Malvinas” but only wants “to counter British interests” based on the Unasur and Mercosur decisions to bar Falklands’ flagged vessels from having access to regional ports.
Argentine Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo, quickly hit back at the statements made by the British government, after Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Argentina “should stop their intimidation attempts” against the Falkland Islanders.
In an article published today the Foreign Secretary William Hague sets out why the future of the Falkland Islands can only be decided by its people themselves.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague praised Brazil's growing economic and political power as he opened two days of talks with the country's leaders, and also assured that British policy on the Falkland Islands will not change despite pressure from Argentina.