MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei pledges to “recover the Malvinas Islands” through diplomatic means

The base in Ushuaia launched alongside US General Laura Richardson marked the first step of “a long process,” Milei explained

Argentine President Javier Milei insisted Monday that he intends to recover the Falkland/Malvinas Islands through diplomatic means but admitted it would be “a long process.”

“My ally is the United States, whether Democrats or Republicans. And boy are they supporting us! They gave us a Hercules. What happened the other day was the greatest act of sovereignty in the last 40 years. Because a military base in Ushuaia supports our claim to Antarctica,“ Milei explained during a TV interview with Alejandro Fantino, arguably the media personality that catapulted him into the limelight.

”I ask you a question. Ushuaia is the capital of what? Tierra del Fuego. And what else? Malvinas Islands, Georgia Islands, Sandwich Islands, and the entire maritime spectrum. It is the first step to start thinking about the recovery of the Malvinas,“ he added.

Asked about the Falkland Islands, he replied: ”Obviously I think about recovering them, but it is a long-term process.”

Milei insisted he was “aligned with the values of the West. The great emblems are the United States, Israel, and further back [came] Europe. The battle is always the same: between those of us who are in favor of freedom and the collectivists. That's why my speech in Davos.”

“The West is in danger because the countries that should be the defenders of freedom are embracing increasing doses of socialism. In the long term, socialism eats you. What they are doing I am not going to propose as a theory, but rather as I come from a country that did that.”

Embracing socialism has cost Argentina a fall from being -in Milei's words- the richest country in the world to the 140th notch.