He believes the government's sudden interest in the Falklands is a deliberate distraction from Argentina's increasing problems at home. Argentina's problems are certainly worsening. Wage demands are mounting, and low and middle-income families are starting to struggle. Five years ago, in , when President Fernandez's late husband Nestor Kirchner was president, Argentina broke off discussions with Britain about the development of the Falkland Islands' resources, on grounds no progress was being made on the question of sovereignty.
But there was little sign of any other interest in the islands. It was only in June last year, in an interview with the editor of the English-language Buenos Aires Herald, that the defence minister, Arturo Puricelli, launched the government's attack on the issue. The Herald, edited by Carolina Barros, is a small newspaper with a famous history.
During the so-called Dirty War, carried out by the country's military in the s and early s, it was the only newspaper which had the courage to raise the issue of the people who were disappearing - 20, or more of them.
Ms Barros maintains that the Fernandez government is nowadays trying to control the media - only parts of which are anyway independent of government influence. President Fernandez runs a strange kind of government.
She never gives interviews or press conferences; instead, she regularly broadcasts her views direct to the country on television. Her critics believe she is becoming more and more isolated. The similarities with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, they say, are growing. Mr Sabsay agrees: "It is very difficult to trust a country which is so mercurial, changing every day. Buenos Aires Herald. In total, the Falklands War lasted 10 weeks and saw Brits, Argentinians and three native Falklanders killed.
Its grand gesture had spectacularly backfired. No such qualms were evident at The Sun. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later?
Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Recommended Families able to visit Falklands War graves after remains identified. Already subscribed? Log in. Forgotten your password? He also dismissed the referendum that is being held by the British government on the islands in March, designed to underline that the islanders want to remain part of the British Overseas Territories.
He said the referendum "is something that doesn't mean anything because if you ask the colonial people who came with a colonial power and replaced the people who were living in the islands, it is like asking the British citizens of the Malvinas Islands if they want to remain British".
He likened it to asking only new Jewish settlers in the Occupied Territories if they want to remain Israeli. He pointed out that the number of islanders who have lived there for more than nine generations was tiny. Expressing his country's deep sense of grievance, in the interview jointly conducted with the Independent, Timerman added: "It is strange to be accused of being fanatical when you see all your natural resources being taken away, part of your country under the administration of a foreign power and you try to sit down and have dialogue and you are refused.
A form of joint sovereignty has been repeatedly urged on both countries as the best solution to the conflict, and in the past before the invasion of the islands by the military dictatorship in , British diplomats had discussed the proposals with their Argentinian counterparts.
Pressed on whether the Argentinians could propose such a solution, he said: "When we sit down we will discuss everything that has to be discussed, not before.
You don't discuss through the media. You discuss face to face. That is why I asked for a meeting with William Hague and he refused. If I can sit down with him, he will know what we think, but he refuses to sit down with us. An exile during the military junta that invaded the islands leading to a total of deaths, he ruled out any Argentinian intention to settle the dispute through force.
He said: "I am a victim of a dictatorship, please take me more seriously. Argentina is a country which has not been in a war under a democratic government for over years. He denied the Argentinians had been making life difficult for the Falklands Islanders, instead accusing the British government of taking unilateral decisions including giving fishing licences for 25 years instead of, as in the past, just two years. He also accused Britain of exploring for oil in a way that could cause a real ecological disaster.
He said drily: "Wherever there is a smell of oil, big powers start to look around and they find a reason to stay there. I think probably oil will complicate the peaceful solution that is asked for by the United Nations.
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