Visiting Falkland Islands representatives are optimistic that the new APNU+AFC coalition government will stand with them in their fight for self-determination, unlike the former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP) administration.
“From our discussions [with President David Granger], our positions are mutual on self-determination and human rights,” Ian Hansen, member of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands, told Stabroek News on Tuesday.
Hansen and Public Relations and Media Manager Krysteen Ormond were accompanied by British High Commissioner Greg Quinn on Tuesday during a meeting with the president to secure his views on the islands’ fight for self-determination.
The duo are here ahead of the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference and Trade Show, which will be held in the twin island republic from January 18 to January 20. They said the meeting with the president was planned as they had met him when he was in opposition and they, therefore, thought it was a good idea to visit and meet him now as president. They said too that their trips are a continuous process of keeping their country’s plight on the front burner. “If the Falklanders here don’t say anything, all you will hear is the other side of the story and that sometimes is not the correct version,” Hansen said.
A 1964 UN resolution had called on the UK and Argentina to proceed with negotiations on finding a peaceful solution to the sovereignty issue. Argentina invaded the islands in 1982 and this led to a war with the United Kingdom, which prevailed.
The islands held a referendum in 2013, which saw 99.8% of the inhabitants voting to remain a British Overseas Territory.
The results of the referendum, the islands’ government has said, should demonstrate to the world that the people want self-determination and they should be given that. Argentina has dismissed the referendum as having no legal value.
Representatives from the islands visited Guyana in 2013 to highlight the islanders’ rejection of the Argentinian claim. However, then President Donald Ramotar declared Guyana’s support for Argentina—a move that the islands’ representatives said shocked them.
“Your last government seemed to take a change from what had always been… we were a little surprised about how that came about because prior to that Guyana was neither here nor there and their position kind of caught us off-guard and I am not sure what happened to be honest,” Hansen said.
However, he said his meeting with Granger was positive and to him it seems that the islands once again have garnered Guyana’s support as it pertains to the principle of self-determination in addressing the territorial dispute with Argentina.
“It doesn’t appear to be the case now. We both fundamentally agreed that self-determination …we all should support each other into getting it done in a proper manner,” Hansen said.
“Fundamentally we seemed to agree on everything we spoke about; we agreed on the situation where there are situations between countries, we agreed that it should be settled with a proper process and a proper manner without bullying, without aggression and obviously respecting human rights,” he added.
Ambassador Quinn reiterated the islanders’ position. “The fundamental issue for us is self-determination. That is, ‘What do the Falkland islanders themselves want?’ And the answer is the Falkland islanders want what the referendum showed and they made very clear, at that stage, what they wanted. Nobody has the right to overturn what the islanders themselves have chosen. Human rights is not about one million or twenty million people or any number. The islanders have made very clear what they want and we have to respect that and we do and everybody else should respect that as well. Otherwise, the whole system falls apart. One of the fundamental tenets of the international system is the right to self-determination and that is what we are talking about here,” he said.
The question of Guyana’s position on Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic came up in November at the Fourth Summit of the Arab and South American Countries (ASPA). There, Guyana was tested by a request by Argentina for support of its position on the Falklands which Buenos Aires calls Las Malvinas. According to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency on the ASPA meeting, President David Granger said that Guyana was reserving its position in this regard.
The President’s statement came in the backdrop of the switch in position on the Falklands issue that had been made by the PPP/C administration. In June 2013, Ramotar said “I wish also to reiterate Guyana’s support for the government and people of Argentina to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity to all of Argentina, including the Malvinas Islands, [Falklands]”. He was at the time speaking at a reception to observe the anniversary of the Argentine Revolution, held at the Pegasus Hotel.
Ramotar’s announcement was a departure from the longstanding position of previous administrations that Argentina’s use of force in 1982 to seize the Falklands was unacceptable. Guyana’s position on the Falklands was moulded with an eye to its decades-old border controversy with Venezuela and concerns that Caracas could have been emboldened by Argentina’s actions had it been successful. Over decades, this had been the Guyana position before Ramotar unilaterally announced a change without any explanation.
Granger’s statement following the ASPA meeting likely signals that Georgetown will revisit its stance and revert to its position that the use of force by Argentina in 1982 was unacceptable.
