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Why all the attention on the Falklands? Five key questions.

April 2 is the 30-year anniversary of the Falkland Islands War. Argentina and Britain have been at odds over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands for decades, and tensions kicked up when Britain deployed some of its modern warships to the islands, as well as Prince William, as a pilot.

What is driving the renewed tensions between Britain and Argentina?

  • By Sara Miller Llana Staff writer

Argentina began pressing the sovereignty issue again in 2009, under the leadership of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Tensions sparked in 2010, after British firms began exploring for oil in the waters off the islands. At the time, the potential of oil in this part of the Atlantic was considered huge, with some estimates placing it at 60 billion barrels.  Later estimates have tempered those expectations.  Argentina has been fighting British oil exploration plans for years, and in 2007 it backed out of a 1995 agreement to jointly explore potential reserves.

While oil might be the main engine of tension today, many countries in Latin America are asserting a new sense of economic and political independence from the US, and supporting Argentina against Britain fits in with that narrative. Late last year, the South American trade group Mercosur announced a ban on boats with Falkland Islands flags from their ports.

Ahead of Prince William's deployment, the British also sent a new warship. It called that move routine, but in February Argentina complained about the “militarization” of the region to the UN.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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