Vice President Victoria Villarruel has lashed out at the foreign ministry’s announcement that it has agreed with the UK to continue humanitarian work on the Malvinas Islands, resume flights from Córdoba, and discuss fisheries conservation.
“The proposed agreement announced with the United Kingdom is contrary to the interests of our nation,” she said in a social media post Friday. “It proposes handing over continental logistical support to the occupation and in fact allows them to continue plundering our seas, and for what? To go and visit our islands with a visa and passport?”
The vice president’s remarks are in sharp contrast with those of the Argentine foreign ministry, which described its agreement with the UK as part of “renewed stage for bilateral relations, characterized by dialogue and building trust.”
Villarruel is the daughter of a former military officer and a vocal advocate of military interests in Argentina — including defending officials convicted of crimes against humanity for atrocities committed during the dictatorship. The 10-week Malvinas War between Argentina and the UK took place in 1982, during military rule, and her statements appeared to echo the arguments of the war-era military.
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Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino met with the UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Tuesday in New York, where the United Nations Summit for the Future had just been held.
The ministers agreed that negotiations over humanitarian work on the islands, led by the International Red Cross, would be resumed. They also announced plans to organize a visit to the islands for relatives of soldiers who lost their lives in the Malvinas War by the end of 2024, so they can visit their relatives’ graves.
A weekly flight will depart for Mount Pleasant, on the Malvinas, from São Paulo, Brasil. Once a month, those flights will also stop in Córdoba, establishing an air connection between the islands and mainland Argentina.
The parties also agreed to cooperate on fisheries management.
Critics have lambasted the announcement, saying that it suggests the delicate humanitarian work of identifying fallen Argentine soldiers is being used as a bargaining chip. Cooperation on fisheries management and support for the islands’ economic development, they argue, is a form of endorsing the British occupation of the islands.
“Do they think we’re stupid? They get material advantages, while they offer us crumbs like emotional consolation and weaken our capacity to negotiate,” Villarruel continued.
The vice’s comments underscore her distance from the government on various issues. She has recently irritated Milei by saying, with regard to France, that “no colonialist country will threaten us over a football chant” days before his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
She was also absent from the armed forces camaraderie dinner in mid-August, claiming she did not receive an invitation, and missed the signing of Milei’s May Pact in Tucumán, saying that she was ill — before parading through the streets of Buenos Aires on the back of a tank the next day.
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.