An Argentine government website published a communiqué on Wednesday about a meeting between Foreign Minister Diana Mondino and a Red Cross representative where it named the Malvinas Islands as “Falklands/Malvinas.” Mondino said she would find the person responsible for the faux pas and fire them, and implied they were guided by “leftist ideology.”
The topic caused considerable backlash in Argentine social media since, although the UK refers to the territory as the “Falklands Islands,” the South American country strongly contests this name. Calling the islands “Malvinas” is a way of defending Argentina’s sovereignty over the archipelago, currently under British occupation.
The press release, which was promptly removed from the government’s website argentina.gob.ar, spoke of a meeting between Mondino and Gilles Carbonier, the Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). According to the communiqué, they both discussed “the resumption of negotiations on the Third Plan of the Humanitarian Project, aimed at identifying Argentine combatants who died in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands during the 1982 South Atlantic conflict.”
Former Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said in a post on X that using the “Falklands” moniker was part of a plan aimed at abandoning Argentina’s historic claim for the islands. “It is not a mistake, it is a surrendering of sovereignty,” he wrote.
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Cafiero also criticized negotiations between the Argentine and the U.K. governments over humanitarian work, fisheries, and flights to the islands. Critics argue that they represent major concessions to the U.K. on the sovereignty of the islands as, in practice, they would involve the exploitation of natural resources such as fish and hydrocarbons to the U.K’s benefit.
Mondino said it was “absolutely false” that the Foreign Ministry issued the statement, and called the widely condemned version “malicious.”
“We are identifying the person responsible in order to fire them,” she wrote. “We will go against anyone who, guided by leftist ideology, attempts against the interests of the Argentine people.” She asserted that the government is working to “recover” the Islands.
The communiqué about the meeting published on the Foreign Ministry’s website (cancilleria.gob.ar) referred to the Islands as “Malvinas.” The statement naming them “Falklands/Malvinas” came from the Coordination of Veterans of the Malvinas War, part of the Ministry of Defense. That office is currently headed by a Malvinas War veteran.
A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry confirmed that it originated in that office and that they were working on identifying the person responsible.
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Editorial disclaimer: Although the UK refers to the territory as the “Falklands Islands,” Argentina strongly contests this name. The Buenos Aires Herald uses “Malvinas” to refer to the islands.