Argentina 1411

     This stamp was issued in 1983. The image is the same as Argentina 1365 issued in 1982 to express Argentina's claim to the Malvina's (Falkland Islands) and the South Sandwich Islands. In it all areas claimed by Argentina are shaded dark brown.
     A close examination of the area at the left of the stamp showing the South American continent and the islands to the South has two problems. I. Hornos (Cape Horn) is designated "Arg." for Argentina like the Malvinas and Islas Sandwich del Sur, although Chile claims and administers the island. Also three islands at the eastern mouth of the Beagle Channel, Picton, Lennox and Nueva, are shaded dark brown like Argentina, implying Argentine territory.
     These are certainly political statements. A war was fought with Great Britain over the Malvinas and Sandwich Islands, and Chile and Argentina almost fought a war over the Beagle Channel Islands. That dispute was resolved in 1984 by the Peace and Friendship Treaty signed in the Vatican.
     But they are also errors in geography.