Hague urges Gov't to cease 'Malvinas intimidation attempts'

British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Argentina to desist from attempts to intimidate Malvinas islands residents, as tension between both countries mounted as the 30th anniversary of the war approaches.

“If the Argentine Government really wants progress, it must stop its attempts to intimidate civil residents,” and accept the means “to work together for the common interest of the South Atlantic,” Hague said in an article published in The Times on Saturday.

The British Foreign Secretary reiterates the 3000 Malvinas residents’ inalienable right to remain British citizens, for the sake of self-determination. “They have the right to decide their own future and develop their own community and economy, thirty years after the Argentine invasion. Many of them are ninth-generation British citizens living there, and will say they are Malvinas residents, and then British citizens.”

Hague also assured that Britain backs cooperation with Argentina in topics including fish administration, oil installations and the strengthening of maritime and air connections between the archipelago and the Latin American subcontinent.

Furthermore, Hague regreted the “less constructive Argentine stance in the last few weeks, particularly the restriction for Malvinas ships to enter Mercosur bloc ports or sail along the Strait of Magellan. Hague hopes these measures haven no effect, despite solidarity statements by Mercosur member states.

“I don’t feel there’s any appetite in the region to join Argentina in its attempts to endanger the islands’ economy or to attack the means of life of its inhabitants and I´m glad,” the British Foreign Secretary added.