‘Falklands is still British and Thatcher was brilliant,’ says Argentina’s Milei

President vows to get islands back ‘through peace’

Argentina’s president Javier Milei has admitted that the Falkland Islands remain in the hands of the British as he boasted of his admiration for the “brilliant” Margaret Thatcher.

The right-wing populist, described as South America’s Donald Trump, went against previous leaders who historically insisted the Malvinas remained Argentine – but vowed to get the islands back through a “framework of peace”.

Mrs Thatcher was UK prime minister when Argentina invaded the islands in 1982, triggering a two-month war that killed 649 Argentine troops, 255 British servicemen and three islanders.

President Milei was asked if he still admired Mrs Thatcher despite her infamous decision to sink the Belgrano, killing 323 people.

He said: “Criticising someone because of their nationality or race is very intellectually precarious.”

He spoke to the BBC alongside Mrs Thatcher memorabilia on a display table and a bust sculpture of himself.

He added: “I have heard lots of speeches by Margaret Thatcher. She was brilliant. So what’s the problem?”

The interview came after UK foreign secretary David Cameron visited the islands and said their sovereignty was not up for discussion and islanders were a “valued part of the British family”.

But Mr Milei said: “If that territory is now in the hands of the UK, he has a right to do that. I don’t see that as a provocation.”

The leader, who has been nicknamed “El Loco”, or the madman, said he wanted the islands to become Argentine “within the framework of peace”.

“We are not going to relinquish our sovereignty, nor are we going to seek conflict with the United Kingdom,” he said.

He said relinquishing the Falklands from the UK would “take time” and would involve a “long-term negotiation”.

He added: “They might not want to negotiate today. At some later point they might want to. Many positions have changed over time.”

Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the islands, which lie about 480km from South America and 13,000km from Britain.

Argentina argues that the islands were illegally taken from it in 1833. Britain, which says its territorial claim dates to 1765, sent a warship to the islands in 1833 to expel Argentine forces who had sought to establish sovereignty over the territory.

Islanders voted overwhelmingly in a 2013 referendum to remain a British Overseas Territory.

The comments come after Madrid and Buenos Aires traded barbs at the weekend after Spanish transport minister Oscar Puente suggested Argentina’s president was a drug user.

Mr Puente, during a panel discussion in Salamanca on Friday, suggested that Mr Milei had ingested “substances” during last year’s election campaign.

Mr Milei’s office released a statement on Saturday condemning the remarks while also attacking Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez.

It accused Mr Sanchez of “endangering Spanish women by allowing illegal immigration” and undermining Spain’s integrity by making deals with separatists, while his leftist policies brought “death and poverty”.

That provoked a rebuke from the Spanish foreign ministry, which said the terms used in the Argentine statement “do not correspond to the relations between the two brotherly countries and peoples”.

Following the election of Mr Milei, who took the helm in December, relations between Argentina and Spain, ruled by a left-wing coalition led by Mr Sanchez’s Socialist Party, have significantly cooled.

Mr Milei has publicly supported Spain’s far-right anti-immigration Vox party. (© The Independent)