Argentina's opposition denounces alleged UK

Argentina’s legislative opposition has condemned a secret military meeting between President Javier Milei and the UK revealed by The Economist, which discussed a softening of the Argentine claim over the Falkland Islands in exchange for NATO military support, according to MercoPress on July 15th.

Lower House deputy, Roxana Monzón of the Peronist and main opposition coalition, Union for Motherland, demanded answers from the President over these alleged bilateral meetings with the UK. The suspected understandings could see a more flexible claim from Argentina in the long-disputed Falkland Islands in exchange for logistics and arms support from the US and NATO.

The accusations are based on a piece published in The Economist on July 6th, with the opposition pointing to members of the government of the right-wing libertarian Milei, such as Defence Minister Luis Petri and Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein, over mentions of a military attaché’s visit and President Milei’s close alignment with the US President Donald Trump’s administration.

“A treaty of such characteristics not only requires the agreement from the Congress of Argentina, given its capacity to condition the country’s foreign policy but also, above all, since it would represent a political and military alliance with a country that, since 1833, has been illegally occupying our Malvinas Islands,” reads the opposition demand for information.

Representative Monzon warned that these secret agreements respond “to dogmatic positions and not to the national interest,” with an alignment with the US is motivated by “geopolitical concerns”.

“In the event of an agreement, this would include neighbouring Chile and would give Argentina access to second-hand Western weapons, while UK would obtain Argentina’s acceptance of London’s role in the South Atlantic” she added.

The lawmaker recalled the 1994 transitory provisions of Argentina’s constitution regarding the issue, stating that “the Malvinas cause is a permanent, unwavering objective of all the Argentine people.” The Falklands or Malvinas have been historically contested between the UK and Argentina, and President Milei is breaking from this mould by acknowledging the UK’s claim and the right to self-determination of the island’s inhabitants.

Monzon finally called on other political groups to join in with the demand, “an alliance of these characteristics with the UK and NATO is incomprehensible for all of us committed to the sovereignty of our usurped Islands.”

Javier Milei’s government is committed to modernising the Argentine military and regards the US, the UK’s major ally, as a key strategic ally in the South Atlantic and is asking NATO to consider his country as a “global partner”. Though Milei is distancing himself from the grouping, Argentina works closely with the BRICS nations and is also a major Chinese trade partner. The BRICS have been seen as a geopolitical counterweight to the US and its allies.

Since 1982, the UK has maintained an arms embargo on sales to Argentina due to its invasion of the Falklands in that year. Yet, there has been unprecedented military dialogue between the UK and Argentina from a visit by British defence attachés in February 2024, a bilateral foreign minister meeting in September, to a reciprocal UK delegation to Buenos Aires planned later this year.

MercoPress, Maghrebi.org