Falkland islanders are sick of being used as ‘political footballs and pawns on a chessboard’, said one islander today as it emerged US President Donald Trump may back Argentina in its claim for sovereignty.
Speaking after a leaked Pentagon memo revealed Mr Trump was considering backing Argentina’s longstanding demand to take over the British territory, Ronnie MacLennan Baird said islanders were fed up of ‘being talked about and not being talked to’.
With Argentina also renewing its calls for talks on the future of the South Atlantic islands, the freelance journalist, who works on the local radio station in Port Stanley, said: ‘Argentina always focuses on bilateral negotiations and Falkland islanders are really sick to the back teeth of being talked about and not talked to.
‘This is another example of that and we are slightly fed up of being talked about as possessions.
‘We are not possessions of anybody. We are not pawns on a chessboard or political footballs. That’s how we have been left to feel.’
Asked whether islanders believed Mr Trump was interested in the ‘significant oilfields’ around the Falklands which were due to be explored in the next few years, he suggested he was more motivated by his close relationship with Argentinian President and Trump supporter Javier Milei.
‘Oil is not actually the driver. People here have said it’s pique (on the part of Trump).
‘I heard one person saying today that it’s just him (Trump) being a bully or the word tantrum was also used but it was a memo not a pronouncement from the President himself.
US President Donald Trump welcomes Argentina’s President Javier Milei at the White House in October, 2025
Speaking after a leaked Pentagon memo revealed Mr Trump was considering backing Argentina’s longstanding demand to take over the British territory, freelance journalist Ronnie MacLennan Baird (pictured) said islanders were fed up of ‘being talked about and not being talked to
‘Oil might be factor in changing the islands for good or for ill in a lot more ways but I think this is more just the Americans cosying up to Argentina which they are is doing already.’
‘The personal relationship between President Trump and President Milei has also been strong for the past year or two – and there has been a lot of cooperation between US Southern Command and the Argentinian military and there is a race to get into position for the renewal of the Antarctic treaty which has resources of its own and which has political and military significance.’
Meanwhile Mr MacLennan Baird said 99.8% of the islanders had voted yes to maintaining the status quo on the islands in the last island referendum in 2013 and he didn’t believe ‘there had been any significant change since then’.
‘That is the benchmark. I don’t think there is any question of any significant change. People want to be part of the British family.
‘They also are quite happy with the current system of self-governance and self-determination.
‘There are certain things that are done in collaboration with the UK and certain things that are decided locally – it’s a devolution plus arrangement and that seems to be something that people are happy with and want to continue.’
On a day to day basis, he said islanders seemed to be more concerned about a missing cat than the chances of Argentina threatening the islands because it is ‘something that we are kind of used to the whole time’ while he said they had been reassured by increased British troop manoeuvres on the islands.
‘There’s a permanent background noise from Argentina – the US thing wasn’t something that people were talking about in the supermarket and the post office collecting their post but it might be too early to say,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘Argentina we always have whether we like it or not- we try to ignore it – the news story from the BBC was posted on the village community group and got half as many replies as a post about a missing cat.
‘Are we complacent? I don’t know. But we have been reassured and there have been more visible displays of training by the British forces on the islands so we are probably reassured by that.’
The Falklands War was triggered by the invasion of Argentinian troops on April 2, 1982
He said islanders were concentrating on ‘getting on with our lives’ and concerns like ‘prices rising in the shops’ as well as the forthcoming oil exploration.
‘Each time another container ship comes in, everything seems to come off the containers a bit more expensively and there’s a mixture of apprehension and excitement about the prospect of oil exploration coming up in the next year or two hopefully whether we like it or not.’
Meanwhile Falklands War veteran Simon Weston told BBC Newsnight last night that the people of Falklands and the families of war veterans who had served in the islands during the 1982 conflict when Argentina invaded the islands deserved more respect.
The US State Department said overnight that its position remained one of neutrality despite the controversy over the leaked memo.
