Argentina protests against UK military exercises in Falklands

♦ Argentina has lodged a formal protest with the British embassy in Buenos Aires over military exercises in the Falkland Islands.

Buenos Aires has “taken notice” that the exercises, between Oct 15-29, included missile launches, its foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Argentina rejects the holding of these exercises in Argentine territory illegally occupied by the UK,” it said.

The ministry said the UN and other international bodies had urged both countries to resume negotiations for “a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute”.

Argentina made a similar protest two years ago; Britain argued that the exercises were routine.

The latest complaint comes after Mauricio Macri, the Argentine president, warned late last month that his country faced months of austerity measures to meet the terms of an IMF crisis loan.

Argentina’s currency has lost half its value against the dollar in 2018.