Chile backs Falklands claim as Argentina recognizes its sovereignty over Magellan Strait

Chilean President José Antonio Kast on Thursday reiterated his government's backing for Argentina's sovereignty rights over the Falklands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, following a bilateral meeting in Santiago with his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei. At the same meeting, Milei recognized Chilean sovereignty over the whole of the Strait of Magellan.

According to the joint statement issued by both governments, Kast stressed the need for Argentina and the United Kingdom to “resume negotiations in order to find, as soon as possible, a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute,” in line with the relevant United Nations resolutions and those of other regional forums.

Milei thanked Chile for “the traditional support of the government of Chile” on the issue and said Argentina would value Chilean efforts to prevent the consolidation of what it considers illegal logistical activity in the disputed area, in relation to hydrocarbon and fisheries exploration and exploitation.

On the Strait of Magellan, both leaders agreed that its legal regime is established by the 1881 Boundary Treaty and the 1984 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, instruments that set Chilean sovereignty over the entire passage. The point was included after Chile's Foreign Ministry sent a protest note to Buenos Aires over remarks by the head of the Argentine Air Force General Staff, Gustavo Javier Valverde, questioning that scope. The day before the meeting, Kast had said in Punta Arenas that “Argentina does not have and will never have sovereignty or control over the Strait of Magellan.”

The Chilean president also thanked Argentina for its commitment to carry out “as soon as possible” the arrest and extradition of Galvarino Apablaza, a former leader of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front sought by Chilean courts as the alleged mastermind of the April 1991 killing of Senator Jaime Guzmán, founder of the UDI party, and for the kidnapping of businessman Cristián Edwards that same year. Apablaza, who has not been convicted by any Chilean court, lived in Argentina for decades with refugee status, revoked in February. He has been a fugitive since April 1, when police did not find him at his home in Buenos Aires province.

The meeting, lasting about 40 minutes at La Moneda Palace, was the third between the two this year and came hours before Milei announced in a televised national address sanctions against oil companies operating around the Falklands without Argentine authorization. The Argentine leader arrived in Santiago after speaking at the Madrid Forum, a gathering of the Latin American right, accompanied by presidential chief of staff Karina Milei and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno. That same day he met US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers; no details of the conversation were released.

The United Kingdom maintains that the Falklands “are and will remain a British Overseas Territory” and that the islanders' right to self-determination is “paramount.” In the 2013 referendum, monitored by observers from six countries, residents voted 99.8% in favor of retaining that status, with three votes against.