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LatAm lawmakers back Argentina's claim to Malvinas

Xinhua, July 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

A group of Latin American legislators lent their support to Argentina's claim to the disputed Malvinas Islands, known to the British as the Falklands, Prensa Latina news agency reported Thursday.

Britain's decision to continue exploring oil in South Atlantic waters off the coast of Argentina, where the islands are located, "does not contribute to finding a peaceful and definitive solution" to the long-running territorial dispute, the regional lawmakers said, according to a press release from the Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry's Secretariat on Malvinas Affairs.

The lawmakers attended a "Meeting on Malvinas" in Ushuaia, capital of Argentina's southernmost province of Tierra del Fuego. Following the meeting, they issued a declaration stating Argentina is fully justified in pursuing legal measures to stop the unauthorized exploration for oil in the disputed archipelago.

The declaration urged Britain to have a dialogue with Argentina to find a solution to the dispute in line with with resolutions issued by the United Nations as well as other regional and multilateral groups.

"The Malvinas are as Latin American as the nations represented at this meeting," said Argentine Secretary of Malvinas Affairs Daniel Filmus, while stressing that the Central American Parliament has designated June 10 as "Central American Solidarity Day with Argentina's Malvinas Islands."

The meeting marked the 50th anniversary of the adoption of UN Resolution 2065, the first to call on Argentina and Britain to try to find a peaceful solution to the conflict that drove the two sides to war in 1982.

Sovereignty dispute over the islands dates back to 1820, when Argentina took over the islands from Spain and stationed troops there. But in 1883 the islands were occupied by Britain which claimed them as a colony administered by a London-appointed governor.

In 1982, Buenos Aires tried to retake the islands by force, sparking a 74-day Malvinas War only to find its forces expelled in the end, with the death of 649 Argentinean and 255 British soldiers, and three islanders.

Though Argentina and Britain resumed diplomatic relations in February 1990, dispute over the Malvinas has continued and even exacerbated due to Britain's booming oil exploration in the islands' waters in recent years. Endi