Thatcher funeral snub for president of Argentina

Britain will not invite the Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez to Margaret Thatcher’s funeral next week in a snub likely to deepen a long-running diplomatic dispute over the Falkland Islands.

Thatcher, who died on Monday, led Britain at the time of the 1982 Falklands war, ordering armed forces to repel an Argentinian invasion of the contested South Atlantic archipelago which Argentina calls Las Malvinas.

Just over 30 years later, memories of the conflict remain raw and Fernandez has mounted a campaign to renegotiate the islands’ sovereignty, lobbying Pope Francis on the issue and rejecting a referendum last month in which Falkland residents voted to remain a British Overseas Territory.