Barack Obama made an uncharacteristic error, more akin to those of his predecessor George W Bush, by referring to the Falkland Islands as the Maldives. | That's what happens when you bring the English teleprompter to Latin America. Poor Mr. Bush only has Hispanic relatives by marriage and must, it wouild seem, lack the suave intelligence of the current POTUS. | |
President Obama erred during a speech at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, when attempting to call the disputed archipelago by its Spanish name.
Instead of saying Malvinas, however, Mr Obama referred to the islands as the Maldives, a group of 26 atolls off that lie off the South coast of India.
The Maldives were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965 and the site of a UK airbase for nearly 20 years.
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