Milei government seeks culprit after paper referencing 'Falklands' slights out

President Javier Milei’s government on Wednesday vowed to dismiss the person responsible for an official statement referring to Malvinas Islands, the archipelago at the centre of Argentina’s long-standing dispute with Britain, as the "Falklands."

Discovery of the paper, from the Defence Ministry, sparked criticism within and outside the government and a promise from the Foreign Ministry that it would sack the culprit, suggesting it was deliberate sabotage by an individual allegedly "guided by left-wing ideology."

The text was published on a Defence Ministry website, but neither that portfolio nor the Foreign Ministry took responsibility for the matter.

Argentina, which fought a war with Britain over the disputed islands in 1982, calls the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean the Islas Malvinas. The UK calls them the Falkland Islands.

"With regard to the malicious version published on the government website, we are identifying the person responsible in order to fire them. We are going to go all out against anyone who, guided by leftist ideology, attacks the interests of Argentines," Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said in a post on social media.

Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the islands, which are located around 600  kilometres from its mainland. Britain insists it has historically ruled the Falklands and notes that islanders voted 99.8 percent in favour of remaining British in a 2013 referendum.

A 74-day conflict over the territory in 1982 claimed the lives of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers.

The reference to the "Falklands/Malvinas Islands" appeared in a draft Defence Ministry communiqué about a meeting between Mondino and Gilles Carbonnier, the vice-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, last week.

It was published on the Defence Ministry Coordinación de Veteranos y Veteranas de la Guerra de Malvinas website.

A part of the communiqué read that the meeting was to "discuss the resumption of the negotiations of the Third Plan of the Humanitarian Project, aimed at the identification of Argentine combatants who fell in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands during the South Atlantic conflict of 1982.”

The wording, which was later removed, was seized on by the opposition, which called for Mondino to step down.

The minister said it was "absolutely false" that the communiqué had been issued from her portfolio and described the document as "malicious."

"Madam: don't wash your hands. You are the person most responsible for foreign relations. If you have to sack someone, start by packing your bag," Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) deputy Pablo Blanco told Mondino in a post on the X social network.

"It's not a mistake, it's a surrender of sovereignty," added Peronist lawmaker and former foreign minister Santiago Cafiero.

The diplomatic error crept into the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday afternoon, which was in session at the time the text was made public.

With the exception of the war, Argentina has claimed sovereignty over the disputed islands through diplomatic channels for almost 200 years.

– TIMES/AFP/NA