BSS
  24 Oct 2024, 09:13

Argentina seeks culprit after official reference to 'Falklands'

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Argentina's government on Wednesday vowed to dismiss the person responsible for an official statement referring to islands at the center of a long-standing dispute with Britain as the "Falklands."

Argentina, which fought a war with Britain over the archipelago in 1982, calls the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean the Islas Malvinas.

"With regard to the malicious version published on the government website, we are identifying the person responsible in order to fire them," Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said on social media.

She suggested the incident was motivated by "left-wing ideology."

Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the islands, which are located several hundred kilometers (miles) from its mainland.

Britain insists it has historically ruled the Falklands and notes that islanders voted 99.8 percent in favor of remaining British in a 2013 referendum.

A conflict over the territory in 1982 claimed the lives of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers.

The reference to the "Falklands/Malvinas Islands" appeared in a defense ministry statement about a meeting between Mondino and International Committee of the Red Cross vice president Gilles Carbonnier.

The wording, which was later removed, was seized on by the opposition, which called for Mondino to step down.

"It's not a mistake, it's a surrender of sovereignty," opposition lawmaker and former foreign minister Santiago Cafiero wrote on social media.