'The Falklanders eat fish and chips. How can they belong to Argentina?'

[alp227]

Laura Sánchez never met her great uncle, Ramón Acosta. But she is proud to point out that he was a war hero. Acosta rescued three soldiers from his crashed helicopter after it was shot down in flames 30 years ago by a British Sea Harrier jet during the Falklands War. "Right now we are surrounded and it will be whatever God and the Virgin want it to be," Acosta wrote in his last letter home. He went missing in action shortly afterwards on 11 June 1982, somewhere near Mount Kent on East Falkland, just three days before the war ended. In his native town of Jesús María in the province of Córdoba, there is a street that bears his name.

So you would expect 29-year-old Sánchez to be a staunch Malvinera, which is what diehard supporters of Argentina's claim on the Falklands, known to Argentinians as Las Malvinas, call themselves. But you'd be wrong.

"When I was a kid I couldn't figure out why he died," says Sánchez. "And I couldn't understand why at school they taught us that the people over there are Argentinians."

Sánchez became even more perplexed after her grandfather returned from a visit to his brother's symbolic resting place in the Argentinian cemetery on the Falklands, where 237 Argentinian war casualties are buried, close to the location of the Battle of Goose Green. "My grandfather came back feeling like he'd been to Britain; it wasn't like Argentina at all."

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/28/falkland-islands-belong-argentina

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Whenever an Argentine government starts sabre rattling over the Falklands, its a clear sign they are

in trouble. Its little more that a jingoistic distraction for the masses because the government is in a mess. Its good to see the younger generation gets it. It is also good to see some rational opposition to the Malvineras by senior columnists.

[sharp_stick]

2. Oh look....shiny

I think the Argie government is about to announce something bad.

[puchi]

3. The Falklanders are british, not the islands...

The Falklanders are british, not the islands...

[oldironside]

4. Well, given that they are British...

... and the islands have been their home for generations, and that the United Nations Charter guarantees the right of self determination, the geological make up of the islands is irrelevant. And, not forgetting, they are further away from Argentina than Berlin is from London. So, are you suggesting the islanders should be booted out to make way for a bunch of Argentinian colonists? How frightfully 19th century.