Argentina blasts UK over plans for Falkands military exercise

Buenos Aires: Argentina Friday blasted plans by Britain to hold military exercises in the Falkland Islands, the rocky archipelago claimed by both countries.

Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said in a statement that the maneuvers, set for April 14 to 27, are a new "act of agression" against Argentina, which in 1982 lost a brief but bloody war with Britain for control of the islands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish. Tensions have resurfaced between the two countries in recent years after Britain opened the area to oil exploration. The Falklands have been ruled by Britain since 1833 and the vast majority of the population of just under 3,000 people are of British heritage. In a March 2013 referendum on the Falkland Islands, 99.8 per cent of the islanders voted to remain a British overseas territory. Argentine forces invaded the islands -- which here are called the Malvinas -- on April 2, 1982. They were forced to surrender a little more than two months later, after a war that killed 649 Argentines, 255 Britons, and three islanders.