While the Argentine national team celebrated its triumph over England and players unfurled a flag reading “Las Malvinas son argentinas,” the Foreign Ministry kept a statement under wraps that was only released hours later: the formal protest over the incursion of the British military vessel HMS Medway into Argentine territorial waters.
Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno presented the diplomatic complaint on Monday the 13th, according to the ministry itself, but the government decided to wait until the match ended to make it public. “In diplomacy, work is not shouted like goals,” Quirno wrote on his social media, in an attempt to justify the delay.
The HMS Medway incursion had been detected by the Argentine Navy between Thursday and Friday of the previous week. However, during those days the only official reaction came from Tierra del Fuego. The provincial secretary of the Malvinas, Andrés Dachary, described the incident as “a new manifestation of British bad faith in the South Atlantic.” Meanwhile, silence reigned at the Foreign Ministry, and the main concern was how the information had been leaked.
The official statement reads: “The Argentine government firmly rejects this British military incursion into spaces under Argentine jurisdiction, which adds to a sustained policy of unilateral acts incompatible with United Nations resolutions.” But the opposition did not buy the story.
The head of the Unión por la Patria bloc, Germán Martínez, fired back: “The Foreign Ministry released the protest statement to the United Kingdom over the British ship two hours after the match ended. They didn’t dare before. You can’t get more spineless than that.” He also announced they would summon Quirno to Congress to explain the delay.
Former Malvinas Secretary Guillermo Carmona also criticized the timing: “They waited for the match result, when all attention is on the score, to release the repudiation of an event that under any circumstances demanded an immediate public expression.”
The government’s move is no coincidence. President Javier Milei is preparing a visit to London for late October, which would make him the first Argentine president to set foot in the United Kingdom in 28 years. And at the Casa Rosada, they do not want tensions with the British. In fact, the opposition claims there were at least three other naval and air incursions that the government preferred not to disclose.
The controversy adds to Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva’s decision to ban flags with the Malvinas map from the stands, deeming them “political content.” A measure that contrasted with the players’ gesture on the field.
Meanwhile, far-right leader Nigel Farage, with whom Milei hopes to meet, posted a provocative message before the match: “Let’s do it all over again like in 1982.” A response to statements by Vice President Victoria Villarruel, who had called the English “pirate usurpers.”
The episode highlights the contradiction of a government that, on one hand, seeks rapprochement with London and, on the other, is forced to react to British provocations. But the lingering question is: do they really care about sovereignty, or is it just a matter of political marketing?
Para mí esto huele a los mismos gorilas de siempre en Cancillería, esperando el pitazo final para quejarse del buque inglés. Mientras los kelpers festejan, estos peronchos ponen el folklore antes que la patria. Vergüenza de gobierno, siempre con la soberanía en segundo plano.
Para mí estos zurdos de mierda siempre hacen lo mismo, se quejan cuando les conviene. El buque inglés y ellos haciéndose los boludos. ¡Patria o corrupción, la concha de su madre! Me parece que Cancillería esperó el pitazo final a propósito, todo oportunismo.