'We will not be bullied by you, Old Plastic Face', says a sixth generation Falkland Islander



Stalking the islands: President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

At a meeting of Falkland sheep farmers, held in a Stanley business boardroom last week, a burly chap wearing a check shirt and pair of well-worn sheep shearing strides grumbled to colleagues.

Fellow farmers were ‘swanning off’ in pursuit of extra cash by offering tours to visiting cruise ship tourists ‘when they should be bloody well staying on their own farms and fattening lambs for the abattoir’.

His amiable colleague leaned across, patted him comfortingly on the shoulder and wryly assured him: ‘Cruise ships won’t be a problem now mate – the Argies have sorted that one for yer.’

The handsome but craggy faces of the group of weather-beaten young farmers lit up with amusement at the positive spin on Argentina’s latest attempt to hinder the Falklands’ economy. But underneath, no one was underestimating the potential seriousness of the situation.

At about the same time, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (or ‘old plastic face’ as Falkland Islanders refer to her following reports in Buenos Aires that her looks are surgically enhanced) decreed that ‘prior approval’ will be required for ships sailing between the coast of Argentina and waters claimed by it, and the Falkland Islands.

Cruise ship tourism is the second-largest contributor to the Falklands’ economy and, worryingly, many ships begin their Falklands/Antarctic adventure in the Argentine port of Ushuaia.

If Argentina insists on permits for ships en route to the Falklands, the opportunity exists for them to refuse or delay the vessels.

Surprisingly, Ushuaia is just as perturbed by the announcement. The Argentinian newspaper based in that region, El Diario del Fin del Mundo, ran an article on Friday expressing concern that their commercial interests could be damaged by the requirements.

With eight cruise liners due to sail between Ushuaia and the Falklands before the season closes at the end of March, the article’s author asked: ‘Who will be issuing licences?’

For Falkland Islanders in general, the decree wasn’t a particularly startling piece of news, for Argentina has been attempting to tear down the Falklands’ economy for many years. Thus it was comforting to read some of the rather pugnacious responses to the situation by the British Press this week.

'Argentina is its own worst enemy as well as ours'

Their patriotic and custodial stance was everything a small and vulnerable overseas territory might hope for and Tony Curran, the editor of our newspaper (The Penguin News, what else would we call it?) wrote: ‘Perhaps one of the better outcomes of recent days has been renewed interest from the UK media in Falklands’ affairs.’

At the same time, the shock/horror reaction also emphasised how little the British public understands our current situation, that such victimisation from our much larger neighbour is an everyday occurrence.

Since the 1982 war, a time I remember well as a frightened 12-year-old farmer’s daughter, the Falklands’ economy has grown hearty from the sale of squid fishing licences to a plethora of calamari-loving countries such as Korea, Spain, China and Taiwan.

The fishery income has transformed Stanley from an increasingly rickety little community, with a rapidly reducing population into an attractive town that boasts a modern school, a tourist visitor centre, hundreds of recently constructed brightly painted houses, and groups of trendy iPod-clutching teenagers on every corner.

But how does our neighbour from hell harass us?



All ships sailing between the Argentine coast and the Falklands must hold a permit

Just for starters, while the country’s authorities currently ‘allow’ a weekly commercial flight between Chile and the islands (one that has no option but to travel through Argentine air-space), they have banned charter flights to the Falklands. These were invaluable and most often used for cruise ship passenger exchanges and the carriage of freight.

We Falkland Islanders are particularly fond of our relationship with our benign neighbour Chile – and we don’t want to lose it.

A substantial Chilean community has grown in the Falklands; we work and socialise together and there’s no better ending to a night out than attending a lively Chilean party, dancing to reggaeton [Latin hip-hop] or grinding to salsa.

Unfortunately, interrupting the link between our countries is just as much of a priority for Argentina. Purely for a bit of sport the Argentine authorities insist that if a scheduled flight is delayed for any reason – bad weather, perhaps – then a permit must be issued for the aircraft to travel another day through their airspace.

The Argentine decree is likely to deepen a row over conflicting claims to oil beds lying inside the Falkland Islands' territorial waters

Of course the Falklands’ biggest industry has less to do with visitors and everything to do with the unlovely but highly lucrative squid. Not surprisingly the Argentine government is perfectly aware of this, and has spent recent years doing all it can to damage the Falklands’ primary money-spinner – the sale of the fishing licences.

In recent years Argentina informed the international fishing industry that if they insisted on purchasing Falklands’ licences they would not be welcome in Argentina’s substantially larger fishing zone.

As far as I am aware this hasn’t actually turned out to be a massive problem in itself. Business is business after all, and if Korean, Chinese and Spanish fishing vessels hear rumours (or perhaps it involves technology; cephalopod chasing isn’t my area of expertise) insisting the squid is in the Falklands’ zone then they seem to follow them regardless.

And we’ve heard if they fancy an Argentine licence the following year, they simply reflag the ship, change a few letters in its name and paint it pink instead of purple. Again I can’t swear to it but they’re a canny lot.

Argentina's authorities currently 'allow' a weekly commercial flight between Chile and the islands but they have banned charter flights to the Falklands

Sadly the problem doesn’t end there. If it were in fact possible to build a nice big wall all the way around the Falklands and its fishing zone, life would be just fine. But sharing the sea with Argentina means suffering their unashamed and irresponsible attitude towards the fish stocks.

While we pay out a fortune in equipment and personnel to monitor fish stocks, and end the fishing season early if things are looking bad, Argentina refuses to co-operate and play the sustainability game.

It is its own worst enemy, as well as ours. Argentina has cruise ship visitors and we have cruise ship visitors, they have squid and we have squid, and yet they seem willing to upset things for themselves in order that the Falklands suffer the consequences.

A great deal of their time seems to be spent demanding that our representatives be expelled from international conferences on everything from oil and agriculture to tourism and fisheries.

I might say that I would rather our neighbour causes us to live in fear of our livelihoods than our lives. But for all our determination to live life serenely in spite of this insistent persecution, it can be a wearying existence when every brave step towards self-sufficiency is dogged by the stalker in the shadows.