been committed because a major maritime Power, the United Kingdom-which should honour the propel rules, even if they are arbitrary-is taking action which the President of the Republic of Panama, Mr. Aristides Royo, has quite rightly described as a deceitful action. Why deceitful? Because the cruise1 Gotc~rtrl Brlgrn~~o. which was torpedoed and sunk by one of the nuclear submarines belonging to the United Kingdom, was outside that maritime exclusion zone. 186. If we follow the logic of that civilized people -to use its own words-well then, in a civilized way England decided that, so as not to violate its own zone. the zone should be extended to within I2 miles of Argentine continental territory. Does that exonerate England. or does it mean that England wanted freedom to act, to take justice into its own hands by might. to gain time so that the troops arriving in a luxury liner would manage to reach the Malvinas archipelago and Argentine territory‘? 187. The zone of war is being extended, and it is being extended without any declaration of war, in the knowledge that Argentina has a territorial sea of 200 miles. We, the developing countries, have greatly suffered from the actions of maritime Powers. Inno- cent passage is requested of us. At the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea we had great difficulties because of that obsession to keep the seas open. How many of those maritime Powers -above all, the European Powers-have protested ru’ condemned this irrational, unreasonable act on the part of the United Kingdom’? I know of only one-the Soviet Union. It must be said that the Soviet Union has stated that it cannot in any way accept the type of decision taken by the United Kingdom. But if there 
**Analysis**
This text appears to be a diplomatic statement or a speech about a conflict between countries, specifically the United Kingdom and Argentina, related to the Malvinas Islands and the surrounding waters. The speaker is criticizing the UK's actions and highlighting the implications of its decisions on the international community, particularly developing countries.

**Category**
International trade, Transport and communication