Spanish and Argentine towns twin in protest over Falklands and Gibraltar

The Spanish port town across the bay from Gibraltar has been twinned with the Argentine city from which the Falklands invasion was launched, sparking new outrage in the tiny British Overseas Territory at the foot of Spain.

Jose Ignacio Landaluce, the controversial mayor of Algeciras, flew to Argentina at the weekend to twin his city with Rio Grande in Tierra del Fuego, as part of an Argentine-led initiative to highlight the "British occupation" of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.

The Popular Party mayor, who also serves as vice chair of Spain's parliamentary foreign affairs committee, will participate in a series of events that includes a vigil on April 2 to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the day Argentina invaded the South Atlantic archipelago.

The move follows months of renewed diplomatic tension between Spain and Britain over the territory, which was ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

A source close to Gibraltar's government on Monday branded the alliance "ludicrous" and a "clear bid to provoke reaction" on the part of the Algeciras mayor.

One Gibraltarian resident, @KittymanGMZ, tweeted: "Landaluce continues to inflame the Gibraltar relations, this is truly pathetic and sad."

The Association of Malvinas Veterans, a group that represents Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict, welcomed the agreement. "It expresses the joint rejection of the illegal occupation exercised by the United Kingdom in the Malvinas and Gibraltar," the group said, referring to the islands by their local name.

Cristina Moran y Flores from the Rio Grande council said it marked the start of a new initiative.

"This historic agreement between Algeciras and Rio Grande is the starting point of a much more ambitious project to link all those cities whose autonomy is compromised by some kind of foreign intervention," she said.

But in Spain, the mayor of Algeciras was criticised by political opponents for striking the secret agreement without consulting the town council.

"It is time that Mr Landaluce and the PP cease its policy of confrontation with Gibraltar and instead address the real concerns of its citizens," said a statement from the Partido Andalucista (PA), an independent nationalist party.

"This does not help the situation, on the contrary, dialogue is what is needed," said Jose Maria Espana, the head of the PA in Algeciras.

Meanwhile, Diego Sanchez Rull, the head of the Socialist party in Algeciras, said the twinning agreement was "irresponsible" and had been taken "without any political consultation, without authoritisation and without ratification".

Argentina's invasion of the Falklands Islands sparked a 74-day war with Britain which claimed more than 1,000 lives.

Cristina Kirchner, the president of Argentina, has pledged an "eternal fight" for the Falklands and sought the support of Spanish-speaking allies as part of a diplomatic campaign to regain control of the disputed territory.