The people of the Falkland Islands are deep in “commemoration season”, preparing for Liberation Day on June 14. This date has been celebrated on the South Atlantic archipelago as its national day since 1982, when Britain defeated Argentina in a 74-day conflict that claimed more than 900 lives, and reclaimed control over the territory.
Despite its failed invasion, Argentina has never given up its claim that what it refers to as Las Islas Malvinas, which are located approximately 500 km off its east coast, are integral to its sovereign territory. The UK counters that descendants of British settlers, present since the 1830s, possess the right to self-determination which they express through their continued association with the UK as a British Overseas Territory.
