'I visited the Falklands years after the war - here's why it's 100% British'

A South American writer has insisted that the Falkland Islands are 100 percent British in a major blow for Argentina.

Chilean lawyer and writer Julio Abasolo Aravena visited the Falklands as part of his research for a book he was writing about the 1982 war.

Published in 2020, the book "Falkland / Malvinas 1982" examines the conflict from a South American perspective.

In an interview with the publication Diario Talca, the writer said his visit to Port Stanley had been "an enriching experience" and he had learned a lot about the islanders and their sense of identity.

"The town overwhelmingly voted to remain under British sovereignty rather than Argentine control, with over 98 percent favouring Britain," he said.

"They definitely feel more European than American."

The islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain a UK overseas territory in a referendum in March 2013.

Of 1,517 votes cast in the two-day referendum - on a turnout of more than 90 percent - 1,513 were in favour, while just three votes were against.

At the time, the UK Government welcomed the result and urged "all countries" to accept it and respect the islanders' wishes.

However, Argentina's President Javier Milei has vowed to reclaim the Falklands, telling the BBC he intended to pursue this aim through diplomatic negotiations.

Recent weeks have seen an increase in aggressive Argentine rhetoric towards the British Overseas Territory.

Gustavo Melilla, the governor of Tierra del Fuego criticised the islanders for pursuing plans to extract oil from the Sea Lion field and accused the UK of "militarisation" after the British Army conducted exercises on the islands last week.

Teslyn Barkman, a member of the Falklands Legislative Assembly, told the Express that they would never give up their sovereignty and believed Argentinians were beginning to accept their right to self-determination.

"I think they (Argentinians) are waking up to self-determination as a principle," she said.

"And certainly looking at what's happening around the world, it's becoming more difficult for Argentina to be able to present what is a very confusing lie that they are telling the world and their own people which is, you know, that it is their ambition to colonise the Falklands.

"On the international stage when you're looking at other conflicts and other conversations where self-determination of people, their history, their culture, and their territorial integrity needs to be respected, it becomes a challenging thing to then say, well, it's our national ambition to just ignore that."