What British diplomacy could not achieve in six decades of debates at the United Nations, it is now accomplishing through the Anglophile rhetoric of President Javier Milei: the internal recognition that national sovereignty depends on the "wishes" of the usurpers. The reaction from the Islands was swift and entirely satisfactory to colonial interests.

Gavin Phillip Short , former assemblyman and leader of the Malvina Islands community, used his social media to denounce Argentina's dangerous capitulation . "I'm glad your President agrees with us here in the Malvinas. Our sovereignty is not negotiable with anyone. Only we, the Malvina Islanders, decide what happens in our country. Period," Short declared, sealing his message with a provocative New Year's wish from what he called "Free Malvinas."

The danger of the "Ihlen Declaration" Argentine version

The gravity of this agreement between the President and the colony is not only political, but strictly legal . In international law, the declarations of a Head of State are binding and can generate permanent legal effects ( doctrine of estoppel ).

By saying that the islands should be returned "when the islanders wish," Milei is undermining the central argument of Resolution 2065 (XX): that in the Malvinas there is not a "people" with the right to self-determination, but a population established after a violent expulsion in 1833. If the claimant itself (Argentina) admits that the occupiers' wishes are the key to the solution, it is de facto recognizing British sovereignty .

A state policy tailored to the Foreign Office

This speech by Milei already has precedents: on April 2, at the Cenotaph of Retiro, Milei called the settlers "Malvinenses" (a term that gives the colony the demonym of nation), and that they should " vote with their feet" in favor of Argentina.

The President insists that Argentina's economic prosperity will make the islanders "want" to be Argentine, ignoring that the occupation is not due to a lack of cultural affinity, but rather to geopolitical, military and resource-plundering objectives of the British Crown.

Immediate consequences

For Argentine diplomacy, this represents a "coup de grâce" to its coherence in international forums. Every time Argentina denounces colonialism before the UN Decolonization Committee, the United Kingdom will be able to cite President Milei himself to argue that the solution must be based on the will of the islanders .

Gavin Short's jubilation mirrors Argentina's decline . While the president seeks to lift the embargo to buy weapons that, ironically, he cannot use against those who celebrate his words today, the country is losing the foundation of its most sacred claim.

A nation cannot have a "mature relationship" with someone who usurps its territory, militarizes it, plunders the sea, and now, in addition, uses the voice of the Argentine president himself as his best defense attorney.