Chilean deputy likens British sovereignty in the Falklands to Chile's in Magellan

A Chilean lawmaker compared British sovereignty over the Falklands with Chile's over the Strait of Magellan during a parliamentary session, a position that runs counter to the official line of Santiago's government, which backs Argentina's claim to the archipelago.

Javier Olivares Avendaño, a member of the People's Party and chairman of the committee overseeing the state intelligence system, made the comparison on Tuesday in the National Defense Committee of the Chamber of Deputies: “That is, just as the Falklands are English, the Strait of Magellan is Chilean.” The People's Party is a center-right group founded in 2019 and is not part of the government.

His remarks came amid a bilateral controversy opened on August 23, when the chief of the general staff of Argentina's air force, Brigadier General Gustavo Javier Valverde, referred on a streaming program to Magellan, the south and the Drake Passage as areas of sovereignty, describing the zone as a bi-oceanic key. Chile sent a protest note and its foreign minister, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, called Chilean sovereignty over the strait indisputable, grounded in the treaties of 1881 and 1984.

Tensions eased after a call from Argentine Defense Minister Carlos Presti to his Chilean counterpart, Fernando Barros Tocornal. According to Chile's defense ministry, Presti attributed Valverde's comments to confusion and said the officer is familiar with the legislation and treaties in force.

On September 3, Presidents José Antonio Kast and Javier Milei signed a joint declaration in Santiago stating that the legal regime of the strait is the one established by those two treaties, fully in force and definitive in character. Chilean media noted it was the first time Argentina had set out in an official document Chilean sovereignty over the entire strait. At the same meeting, Kast reiterated Chile's support for Argentina's sovereign rights over the South Atlantic islands and called for negotiations with the United Kingdom to resume.

The controversy reopened hours later, when Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno described his country as bi-oceanic while discussing the naval base planned in Tierra del Fuego, and Senator Patricia Bullrich listed control of the strait among Argentina's strategic objectives. Bullrich later sent a letter attributing her comments to confusion with the Beagle Channel, acknowledging that the strait belongs entirely to Chile and asking that her apologies be conveyed to Kast.

That second round mobilized the Chilean opposition. On the same Tuesday, the chamber voted 57 to 49 with one abstention to summon Pérez Mackenna, who will become the first minister in Kast's cabinet to appear before Congress. The session is set for September 28, with a questionnaire covering thirteen subjects, including the continued force of Argentine decree 457/2021, whose text refers to joint control of the strait and which Buenos Aires has acknowledged as an erroneous formulation without repealing it.

Sovereignty over the Falklands remains disputed between the United Kingdom and Argentina, which claims the islands. In the 2013 referendum, 99.8% of voters in the archipelago chose to retain the status of a British overseas territory.