Argentine intellectuals brand president Kirchner's Falklands policy absurd... and say islanders should be allowed to decide their own future
Blow: President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's policy on the Falklands has been branded 'crazy' and 'absurd' by intellects in Argentina
Argentina's president Cristina Kirchner was dealt a blow today after a group of leading Argentinians called on the government to respect the opinions of Falkland Islanders.
Seventeen of the country’s most respected writers, historians, law experts, politicians and journalists slammed the government’s 'crazy' and 'absurd' policy on the archipelago.
A document signed by the intellectuals criticised Kirchner for her 'constant harrassment' of its residents and called on the government to let islanders decide their own future.
The intervention from some of Kirchner’s most influential contemporaries is the most significant challenge yet from within Argentina to the populist president, who has whipped up anti-British feeling to a fervour ahead of the 30th Anniversary of the Falklands War.
One of the document’s signatories, former Argentine deputy Fernando Iglesias, told Argentina’s Le Red radio: 'It seems crazy to me to try to think that Argentina will be stronger by imposing citizenship on a people who don’t want it.
'I can’t see how a country can impose on a group of 3,000 people, whose ancestors have been there for 180 years, a sovereign government, a citizenship, that they don’t want.
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'That to me is truly absurd.'
Respected writer Pepe Eliaschev claimed Argentinians would be hypocrites if they denied Falklanders the right to self-determination.
He added: 'Argentina wouldn’t exist if not for self-determination, and this can’t be valid for some but not for others.'
He also expressed his skepticism of Kirchner’s motives in bringing up the Falklands question just before the emotive anniversary.
Tensions: A banner that reads 'Brits get out of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands)' was draped on a fence outside the Government House in Buenos Aires but academics want to let islanders decide their future
Tensions: A banner that reads 'Brits get out of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands)' was draped on a fence outside the Government House in Buenos Aires but academics want to let islanders decide their future
He said: 'This new row has a lot of the artificial about it.
'Why would we start demanding negotiations over sovereignty of the Falklands right now 30 years since the war, and not 31 years or any other date?
'It seems that Argentina is incapable of looking critically at its tragic military adventure in the Falklands.
'It is now committing the same folly by thinking that the Falklands questions can somehow be magically resolved.'
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