Malvinas Islands

There is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean that has been a source of tension between Argentina and the UK for 180 years. Throughout the country there is evidence of this dispute and the deep emotions it stirs in the population.

Reads: The Malvinas are Argentina's

Reads: The Malvinas were, are and will be Argentina's

The Falkland Islands in Britain are known as the Malvinas Islands here and Argentina claims to have originally discovered them. They were subsequently colonized by a host of European nations, but the British rule established in 1833, after a failed attempt at invading Argentina, has held until present day. Argentina still claims ownership - they invaded the islands in 1982 and subsequently surrendered to British forces after 2 months and 2 days. A tour guide with really good English joked with us, "It took 2 months for the British war ships to arrive in the islands, and 2 days for them to destroy us." A monument to the ~645 soldiers who died sits in Plaza de San Martin downtown. How ironic the overseers are reminiscent of the British military guard.

Even so, they've attempted to remove other homages to Britain, including renaming this tower that sits in the same park - it used to be called Tower of the English, until 1982 when it was renamed Monument Tower.

The row is considered by some of the people we've talked with here as a scapegoat the government uses to distract Argentineans from more real and affecting domestic problems. CNN does a nice little summary here on other possible motives which include recently discovered oil and the islands' strategic location in shipping routes.