Episode 3 – Argentina’s junta cranks up the heat on the frigid Falklands but then cry wolf in 1977

This is episode three and we’re dealing with the period up to the invasion of the islands by the Argentinians on 2nd April 1982. Had it been a day earlier, most people across the world would have thought that the news was a horrendous April Food Joke – but it wasn’t.  As we heard last episode, by 1971 negotiations between the British and the Argentinians had vascillated between good intentions and terrible breakdowns. Throughout the 1960s, the British were trying to figure out how to offload the Falklands without causing political condemnation at home. That changed by the 70s. The British were becoming more hesitant about the whole idea despite pressure from the United Nations and other international agencies. At the same time, the Argentinian right-wing dictatorship had made the Falklands Malvinas their main target to instigate international anger – and to placate their own citizens. Foreign Minister Costa Mendes was leading the communication – he vocal and urbane, and a devout Argentinian nationalist.The British parliament and then successive cabinets became instinctively hostile to Whitehall’s determination to pursue negotiations. The technocrats just saw rising costs at a time of economic fragility, but politicians were equally uncomfortable throwing the 1800 Falklanders under an Argentinian bus. As Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins ask in their excellent book The Battle for the Falklands, why didn’t the Foreign Office just simply give up? Instead they kept ploughing on, trying to find a negotiated solution. In January 1972 an Albatross flying boat landed off Port Stanley to commence a twice-monthly service to Comodoro Rivadavia – and soon, it was hoped, an airstrip would be hewn out of the heath. 350 Argentine tourists arrived onboard the first major cruise liner called the Libertad. That single visit emptied Port Stanley of its entire stock of souvenirs. All seemed swanky, but then the backsliding began and it began with the British.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.