In 1982 Argentina was in tension with Chile, due to territorial limits. At that very moment, the military dictatorship gave the green light to carry out the “Operation Rosary” whose goal was recover the Falkland Islands.
The sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the islands of the South Atlantic originated on January 3, 1833, when the United Kingdom, breaking Argentine territorial integrity, illegally occupied the islands and expelled the Argentine authorities, preventing his return and the settlement of Argentines from the continental territory.
Since then, Argentina has regularly protested against the illegal British occupation. But neither the Resolution 2065 of the General Assembly of the HIMnot even Resolution 502 of the Security Council they were able to avoid the bloodshed that produced the armed clash that began on April 2, 1982. The war lasted 74 days. It culminated on June 14 with the surrender of Mario Benjamín Menéndez to Jeremy Moore.
In terms of Defense, a study by the Stockholm International Institute for Peace Studies revealed the difference in military capabilities of the belligerent States in the Falklands War.
The data is overwhelming: the UK sent 327,600 troops to the theater of operations, while the Argentina sent 180,500.
The qualitative data that increases the gap is that the British were professionals, while the Argentine ranks had conscripts. However, despite the differences shown, a book by Julian Thompson, a British commander in the 1982 war, appeared years after the war, entitled No Picnicin clear allusion to courage of Argentine fighters and the extraordinary deployment of the Argentine air force.
After the surrender, in Argentina the Commission for analysis and evaluation of political and strategic-military responsibilities in the South Atlantic conflict was created by decree. The product of this Commission was the Inform Rattenbachan official material that explains the political, military and strategic irresponsibility of the military dictatorship in the Malvinas War.
Falklands: journey to hope
Its pages expose the mistakes made and reveal that the war was a desperate search for legitimacy by a military government in decline, which embarked the country on a military adventure that had an irreparable cost of 649 dead Argentines, who fought for the sovereignty of their country.
To this number we must add the suicides after the armed clash. The uk fallen were 255 and the number of suicides was also high, which allows us to conclude that winning in the theater of operations does not prevent some people from deciding to end their lives for the torment of memories
Malvinas, Argentine dignity and the sinking of the Belgrano
Margaret Thatcher exchanged blood for votes, when she decided to bomb the General Belgrano cruise ship and sink the peace process in the waters of the Atlantic, just when the president of Peru Fernando Belaúnde Terry, mediator in the conflictannounced at a press conference in Lima that peace was imminent.
This cruel torpedoing took place when the Argentine ship it was sailing out of the exclusion zone and heading towards the mainland. She left a balance of 323 muertoswhich enabled the “Iron Lady” to increase her imagetheir intention to vote and be re-elected.
Malvinas | What rights does the United Kingdom have to keep the Islands?
In Argentina, on the other hand, the military defeat meant the beginning of the end of the dictatorship and the advent of democracy, which would arrive in 1983 with the arrival of Raúl Alfonsín at the Casa Rosada by popular vote.
Regarding Defense, it must not be forgotten that the Doctrina Monroe and the howeverwhich served as fuel – together with the Condor Plan – to enhance the bravado of the Argentine dictators thanks to erroneous calculations, conspicuous by their absence in the conflict.
Malvinas: 74 days of irresponsibility
Argentina bases its position and claims on the principle of utipossidetis iuris, the principle of territorial integrity, on the fact that the islands are within the Argentine Continental Shelf and on the occupation that was uninterrupted until the british usurpation in 1833.
He The United Kingdom systematically appeals to the principle of self-determination of peoples, which does not apply in the Malvinas issue because it is a population implanted by the same State that usurped the archipelagos.
It’s important pointing that the islanders could not vote in the Brexit referendum held in 2016, which concluded with the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) and a blow to the economy of the islands, due to the post-Brexit agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom that left the archipelago without commercial, tax and customs benefits in the exchange with that community bloc.
The numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and the treatment of the sovereignty dispute in the Decolonization Committee are complemented by the support of the Latin American countries for Argentina’s legitimate sovereign rights, and the call for the resumption of negotiations is shared. by the OAS, the G77 plus China, and other multilateral and regional forums.
Malvinas: a topic on everyone’s lips and in the hands of few
A few days ago, the Argentine Government obtained the support of the Heads of State gathered at the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit, which was held in the Dominican Republic, on the request to restart negotiations with the United Kingdom for the sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands.
Malvinas: strategic resources
Having a base of support in the South Atlantic is a strategic objective for the UK, given the looming global fight for fresh water.
The United Kingdom transported 31 nuclear weapons to the islands during the Falklands War
A UN report estimates that there are already 2 billion people in the world who do not have access to drinking water. The proximity of the islands to Antarctica, the Guarani Aquifer, the Amazon jungle, and the continental ice sheets of Argentina and Chile (all of the planet’s most important freshwater reserves) seem to be sufficient reasons to allocate economic and military resources to this cause.
Malvinas: liquid treasure
Scientific and technological advances will play a leading role. When the costs of water desalination of the oceans diminish (as happened with the Internet), the interests on the world board and those of the United Kingdomin particular, will surely be altered.
When the UK manages to transform the salt water around its territory in drinking water (as Israel does) at low cost, perhaps it decides to replicate the handover of Hong Kong to China that it carried out in 1997, and return the Falkland Islands, to its rightful owner: the Argentine Republic.
That day will meet the goal set in 1994, in the First Transitory Provision of the Argentine Constitution.
That day sorrow and hope will embrace and the Argentine people will ecstatically honor those who marched with their backpacks full of glory and honor to defend their national flag in the southern pearl.
*International analyst, university professor specializing in Defense in the US; author of the book “Malvinas; a pretext to legitimize a totalitarian government”. In 2019 he traveled to the Falkland Islands.
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