The singer Morrissey has become the latest celebrity to endorse Argentina's claims over the Falkland Islands, telling a crowd in the Argentinian city of Córdoba, "we know the islands belong to you".
Diplomatic tensions between Argentina and the UK have been mounting ahead of the 30th anniversary of the invasion of the islands by Argentina on 2 April 1982. Last month British diplomats accused Argentina of trying to isolate the Falklands by putting pressure on Chile to end flights there. On Monday, two British cruise ships were prevented from docking at an Argentinian port.
Morrissey's comments follow similar endorsements by the US actor Sean Penn and the Pink Floyd bass player Roger Waters. "The Malvinas Islands, everybody knows they belong to Argentina," Morrissey said from the stage of the Orfeo stadium in Córdoba. "So please don't blame the British people, we know the islands belong to you."
The comments brought enthusiastic cheers from the crowd before he launched into the 1984 Smiths track Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want.
Morrissey's support for Argentina's claim, contested by Britain and the 3,000 British inhabitants of the islands, follows an interview broadcast on Friday on Argentine and Chilean television in which Waters said the Falklands "should be Argentine". The musician, who is playing nine sold-out stadium concerts in Buenos Aires starting next week, said Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron had used the Falklands question "for narrow political ends".
Penn was the first major artist to come out in favour of the Argentinian position, after a meeting with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Buenos Aires two weeks ago.
He criticised Britain's "ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology" and the deployment of Prince William to the islands on a tour of duty as a search and rescue helicopter pilot. "There are many places to deploy the prince," Penn said. "It's not necessary, when the deployment of a prince is generally accompanied by warships, to send them into the seas of such shared blood."
The pro-Argentina statements have come as Kirchner has increased pressure on the islands. She announced on Friday that she wants to start direct flights between Buenos Aires and the Falklands, to replace the current flight linking the islands with the mainland via the "neutral" Chilean port of Punta Arenas.
"Our main concern is that we keep our link to Chile," said Nigel Haywood, British governor of the islands. "We're in the middle of a current Argentine policy which seems to be to isolate the islands and to dictate to them what they should be doing – from harassing fishing vessels to closing ports to cruise ships. At a time when every act that Argentina takes towards us seems to be a hostile one, I'm not too sure why we should view this with any degree of enthusiasm."
