Falklands oil better in Latin American hands

However, I was informed of the certainty that the 1982 war was about oil and gas potential by returning military friends as soon as they got back in June of that year.

I was also aware that prime minister Thatcher was not, as her spin doctors presented her, a sort of housewife superstar. She was the wife of a millionaire who had been a director of Burmah Oil.

It's funny the cream of the nation's media failed to spot all this at the time.

As for the colonialism let's not be coy. Argentina might be reminded that native south Americans did not originally speak Spanish or Portuguese, if you get my drift.

However, the point to be made in this instance is that whereas Venezuela, for example, has entered into oil trading agreements with hemisphere neighbour Cuba in exchange for medical expertise, there is every expectation that any oil or gas exploited off the Falklands would become a profit centre for the neoliberal pals of the old colonial masters who are run by global capitalism.

The growing number of progressive leaders in Latin America are, in many cases, only second generation nationals of their countries including Cuba's Fidel and Raul Castro (Spanish dad), Ernesto Guevara (an Argentinian of Spanish descent), as well as their often forgotten comrade, Camilo Cienfuegos (Spanish origins too).

What sets those comrades apart from "colonials" is that they embraced their new homes and dedicated their lives to improve the lot of the inhabitants, rather than exploit them to enrich themselves and imperial masters thousands of miles - and an ocean - away.

Mike Starke

Isle of Wight