Latin American and Caribbean leaders at a summit in Mexico have backed Argentina in its new row with the UK over the Falkland Islands.
Leaders of all 32 countries backed Argentine claims to the islands and condemned oil drilling operations that are already under way. The row erupted after a UK firm began drilling for oil off the Falkland Islands and Argentina objected. Buenos Aires has ruled out military action and is pursuing talks at the UN.
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner told the summit that Britain was carrying out a systematic violation of international law and said she was satisfied with the unanimous support, our correspondent Andy Gallacher reports from Cancun.
Argentina and Britain went to war over the South Atlantic islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, in 1982, after Buenos Aires invaded them.
UK forces wrested back control of the territory, held by Britain since 1833, during a seven-week war that killed 649 Argentine and 255 British service personnel. The British-contracted rig Ocean Guardian began drilling 100km (62 miles) north of the Falklands on Monday.
The drilling operation in the disputed waters off the Falkland Islands could yield millions of barrels of oil and the British government says it will take all necessary measures to protect the archipelago. But Buenos Aires has ruled out military action and is trying to pressure Britain into negotiations on sovereignty. The Argentine foreign minister is due to meet with the UN Secretary General in New York as they continue their diplomatic offensive.
Also at the two-day summit of the Rio Group and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in Mexico, leaders agreed to set up a new regional body without the US and Canada.
The new bloc would be an alternative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), the main forum for regional affairs in the past 50 years.
