New York, Sep 27 (IANS/EFE) The foreign ministers of Spain and Argentina met here Thursday to discuss working together to resolve their countries’ respective disputes with Britain over Gibraltar and the Falkland islands.
Aides to Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said that Gibraltar and the Falklands were discussed.
While sources on Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman’s team said the two men agreed to join forces in demanding compliance with long-standing UN resolutions mandating that London negotiate with Madrid and Buenos Aires over Gibraltar and the Falklands.
The talks came a day after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy denounced Gibraltar’s current status as an “anachronism” in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez used her address to the assembly Tuesday to blast Britain for refusing to engage in dialogue with Buenos Aires over the Falklands, known to Latin Americans as the Malvinas.
Britain will not discuss ceding sovereignty to Spain without the consent of the residents of the Rock, British Prime Minister David Cameron said earlier this month in a message to mark Gibraltar’s national day.
Madrid, however, says sovereignty is a matter exclusively for the Spanish and British governments.
Gibraltar, a territory of 5.5 sq km at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, has been held by Britain since 1704 and became a British Crown Colony in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht.
Britain has occupied the Falklands since 1833.
Argentine troops invaded the South Atlantic archipelago on April 2, 1982, at the order of the military junta then in power in Buenos Aires.
Fighting officially began on May 1, 1982, with the arrival of a British task force, and ended 45 days later with the surrender of the Argentines.
The conflict claimed nearly 1,000 lives – some 700 Argentines and 255 British soldiers and sailors.