A South American writer has insisted that the Falkland Islands are 100 percent British in a major blow for Argentina.
Chilean lawyer and writer Julio Abasolo Aravena visited the Falklands as part of his research for a book he was writing about the 1982 war.
Published in 2020, the book “Falkland / Malvinas 1982” examines the conflict from a South American perspective.
In an interview with the publication Diario Talca, the writer said his visit to Port Stanley had been “an enriching experience” and he had learned a lot about the islanders and their sense of identity.
“The town overwhelmingly voted to remain under British sovereignty rather than Argentine control, with over 98 percent favouring Britain,” he said.
“They definitely feel more European than American.”
The islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain a UK overseas territory in a referendum in March 2013.
Of 1,517 votes cast in the two-day referendum – on a turnout of more than 90 percent – 1,513 were in favour, while just three votes were against.
At the time, the UK Government welcomed the result and urged “all countries” to accept it and respect the islanders’ wishes.
“I think they (Argentinians) are waking up to self-determination as a principle,” she said.
“And certainly looking at what’s happening around the world, it’s becoming more difficult for Argentina to be able to present what is a very confusing lie that they are telling the world and their own people which is, you know, that it is their ambition to colonise the Falklands.
“On the international stage when you’re looking at other conflicts and other conversations where self-determination of people, their history, their culture, and their territorial integrity needs to be respected, it becomes a challenging thing to then say, well, it’s our national ambition to just ignore that.”
