I have no desire to enter into a war of words with my friend and diplomatic colleague His Excellency Marcelo Salvolio, Ambassador of Argentina.
I will leave it to the intelligence of your readers to draw their own conclusions. However, in your report Ambassador to T&T: Argentina Rejects Falkland referendum (published March 20), His Excellency is reported as saying "the United Kingdom has called for a vote by the inhabitants that it implanted (my emphasis) in the Malvinas Islands in order for them to decide on matters which aim to distort the true legal status of these islands."
The population of the Falklands Islands have not been "implanted" and have settled by their free will over several generations and nearly two centuries of continued immigration from various countries, including Argentina. I invite the Ambassador to share with your readers historically validated evidence of "implantation" on which he bases his dismissal of the rights of the islanders.
Indeed, even the detailed "history" section of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site contains no evidence or records of population implantation, itself surprising given the regularity with which Argentina makes this claim.
Arthur Snell
British High Commissioner to T&T