“Controversy exists over the Falklands’ discovery and subsequent colonization by Europeans. At various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, although Argentina maintained its claim to the islands. In 1982, after Argentina’s invasion of the islands, the Falklands War resulted in the surrender of Argentine forces and the return of the islands to British administration.”
– WIKIPEDIA

The issue of the Falkland Islands (which the Argentines call “Las Malvinas”) is a tricky one for Belizeans who think progressively, as I believe I do. If you are an Anglophile Belizean, the people Can-Uh Luna calls the “Baymen’s clan,” it’s automatic that you endorse and support the British position. On the other hand, those Belizeans who come out of a Hispanic background are much more likely to support Argentina against Great Britain where the Malvinas are concerned.

So what does yours truly do? The similarities between Argentina’s demand for the Malvinas and Guatemala’s longstanding claim to Belize are there for all to see. The British Empire was planet earth’s superpower in 1816 and 1821 when first Argentina and then Guatemala, South American and Central American possessions of Spain, declared their independence from the Spanish. In the nineteenth century, the British were able to control territories like the Falkland Islands and the settlement of Belize, which were thousands of miles away from London, because of the incomparable British navy.

The difference between the Falklands and Belize is that the inhabitants of the Falklands are all white, while the majority of Belize’s citizens were African and Indigenous when Belize gained independence in September of 1981. The British refused to give Belizeans a defence guarantee upon our attainment of independence, but the following year the same British went to war 8,000 miles away when Argentina invaded the Malvinas.

Even the United States government found itself in a diplomatic quandary during the war between Britain and Argentina in 1982, with American Secretary of State, Al Haig, leaning to Argentina’s side before his Ronald Reagan administration moved to support America’s oldest and most important allies, the British.

The constitutional difference between the Falklands and Belize is that they are still a British possession while we are an independent country. Both territories have become much more important in recent years because of the discoveries of substantial petroleum and mineral reserves.

For us on Partridge Street, it was quite noteworthy a couple years ago that when Falkland Islands’ officials came to Belize to present their case to the Belizean people, they did not come to Kremandala. They went to The Reporter and to LOVE FM. In fact, an executive of The Reporter was actually flown to the Falklands to see the situation for herself.

One had to conclude that the British High Commission here had designed the itinerary, or had a quantum of input in the planning process, for the Belize visit of the Falkland Islanders and the visit of The Reporter to the Malvinas. This was not keen diplomacy on the British High Commissioner’s part, whoever he was at the time, because Kremandala is an open media house. Editors and commentators at Kremandala are not bound by what may be the Kremandala chairman’s personal opinion on any specific matter. And, in fact, I had never expressed any categorical opinion on the issue of the Falklands/Malvinas.

In the middle 1980s, there was British High Commissioner in Belize, Peter Thomson, who used to visit Amandala and chat with me. An old Navy man, he used to go fishing with a humble Belizean fisherman named Joe “Chamaco” Contrejas. This was the kind of unassuming guy Mr. Thomson was. He was quite aristocratic, though, and there was never any doubt that he was 100 percent Union Jack and Buckingham Palace.

Many years went by before we saw a British High Commissioner back here again. About five years or so ago, a John Yapp came back here and sat with both Mose and myself, separately. I learned quite a bit from Mr. Yapp, and I therefore appreciated his conversation. His stay here was brief, however. There was a flap when a high-ranking Belizean lady claimed that he had been fresh with her. Yapp was recalled to London. He later sued the British government for wrongful termination of service, and was awarded big bucks.

I couldn’t resist telling you about Messrs. Thomson and Yapp, but these stories are diversionary. The central issue is how does a black, English-speaking Belizean, with cultural ties to the black, English-speaking Caribbean, living under the threat of a claim to his country which his neighbor declares is derived from the Pope of Rome’s Spanish Empire, support the claim to the Falklands/Malvinas which Argentina supposedly inherits from the Pope of Rome’s Spanish Empire? This is, to use the words of the old obeah woman, “a tricky spot.”

I feel confident that the spot is not tricky for Belize’s current UDP administration. They will support Great Britain at the United Nations. The situation in the Malvinas, nevertheless, is a relic of imperialism and colonialism, in that the people who live there came there from a conquering Europe: they are not Indigenous. Where does Belize stand on imperialism and colonialism?

The people who rule Guatemala and oppress that republic’s majority Indigenous population are also historical migrants from Europe. For us as the most newly independent nation on the Central American mainland, one test of Belize’s integrity is how we treat our Indigenous population, who were here before the rest of us. As a progressive black Belizean, I always listen keenly to Belize’s Indigenous leaders.

Belize is different from the Falklands. Our case is different because our Belizean population is majority African and Maya in origin. Some of you don’t like to hear about ethnicity even though it often stares you right in the face. The British refused to give Belizeans a defence guarantee in 1981: they went to war without any hesitation for the Malvinas. How do you explain that if the color of your skin doesn’t matter?

Power to the people. Power in the struggle. Always.