Argentina trashes textbooks over Falklands blunder

Published on Thursday 1 May 2008 22:14

ARGENTINE veterans of the Falklands conflict will today begin delivering thousands of replacement textbooks to schoolchildren, after it was discovered the originals showed the disputed islands as belonging to Great Britain.

Despite being known in Argentina as "las Islas Malvinas", the islands were labelled as the Falklands on maps in 30,000 textbooks distributed to pupils by the government of Salta province. The provincial education minister, Marta Torino, resigned after the minister of defence demanded an explanation.

Politicians and military personnel told local media the publication of the maps was a serious issue, as it contradicts the Argentine claim to sovereignty over the islands.

Juan Manuel Urtubey, governor of Salta province, apologised to war veterans and requested that the books were reprinted in full, at the publishers' expense.

The new edition will be distributed to the province's schools by 200 veterans. They will also give talks to the children about the conflict, though, according to Salta daily El Tribuno, this had been planned before the textbook scandal.

Mike Summers, spokesman for the legislative council of the Falkland Islands, said the story had caused amusement in the British territory.

"This is a small incident in the great scheme of things, but once again illustrates the Argentine government's irrational obsession with seeking to gain possession of a territory that has never been Argentine, and while democratic freedoms exist here, is never likely to be," he said.

In Argentina, the islands they call the Malvinas are still seen as rightfully belonging to them. They regard the South Atlantic territory as having been illegally occupied by Great Britain since 1833.

Last month the president, Cristina Kirchner, highlighted her country's "irrefutable claim" to the islands in a ceremony to mark the 26th anniversary of the war.