Falklands War: Why Chile Supported Britain and Not Argentina

39 years after the landing of Argentinian troops to recover the Falkland Islands, the Falklands War continues to generate memories of pain among the people of Argentina, but when the Chile’s role in the conflict, the word Argentines say the most is “traitors“, but few remember the strained relationship between dictatorships of Jorge Rafael Videla and Augusto Pinochet it almost ended in war.

the Chile’s support for Great Britain left an open wound in Argentina. However, in 1982 the situation among the countries of South America was not the best for just four years earlier. they were going to face a war by channel islands, but the intervention of Pope Juan Pablo II stopped the conflict, but Argentina had thought of invading the islands after the Falklands War.

“After the Falklands, we thought of attacking Chile“said in a 2009 interview with PROFILE, the last he gave to a local media, the head of the air force during the 1982 war, Basilio Lami Dozo. The person in charge of the recovery of the islands on April 2, 1982, recalled that Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri He said: “Let them take the example of what we are doing now because later it will be their turn.”

PROFILE – So they were going to attack Chile?

Basilio Lami Dozo – Exactly.

“After the islands, we thought of attacking Chile”

In this sense, in dialogue with PROFILE, former Secretary of State for Intelligence, Juan Bautista “Tata” Yofre, who wrote several books on the Falklands War, said: “After the Falklands, Chile arrived. Then Chile took out the insurance policy and joined Britain, which had sent Sidney Edwards to shut down the alliance in which Chile allowed them to fly over their territory to control what was happening in Argentina and in return they offered some kind of armed aid. Chile was with the United States on the diplomatic side. April 19 , Chile has moved its entire fleet. “

“If I had been Chilean, I would have done the same as Chile. They were defending their sovereignty“, Assured Yofre and added:” Argentina almost goes to war on the Beagle Channel, which ends up being stopped by the Pope. But Argentina was left with blood in its eyes because the dictatorship had already planned a conflict with Chile.

The near war with Chile on the islands of the Beagle Channel

The tension between the dictatorships of Argentina and Chile came from December 1978 when they were about to play in a armed confrontation on the islands of the Beagle Channel.

In 1971, the two countries appealed to an international tribunal to determine the sovereignty of the islands. In 1977, the court ruled in favor of Chile. It did not go well with the Argentine dictatorship and, after lobbying through diplomatic channels, at the end of 1978 they launched the “Operation Sovereignty “to invade Chile. The Argentine army had planned to take the Picton, New and Lennox Islands, but ultimately the intervention at the time of the Pope Juan Pablo II as mediator and sent a special envoy to South America, thus avoiding a war.

Pinochet “invented” the Beagle conflict between Argentina and Chile 40 years ago

How has Chile supported Great Britain

In 2014, Sidney edwards, the officer sent by the British Prime Minister Margaret thatcher, revealed how he obtained the secret support of Augusto Pinochet in his book “My Secret Falklands War“.

In dialogue with the Chilean magazine What is going on, the former British Royal Air Force officer said: “My personal opinion – and I think it was shared by my bosses at the Ministry of Defense and by Margaret Thatcher – is that the The help we received from Chile was absolutely crucial. Without her we would have lost the war“.

In his book, he revealed that upon his arrival in Santiago de Chile, he was received by the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Air Force, Fernando Mathei. “If Chile didn’t help us in the war, then the Argentines would march straight to take the islands of the Beagle Channel. The other thing is that Matthei knew it was a perfect opportunity to get weapons, intelligence and other things that they normally wouldn’t have accomplished, ”he said.

39 years after the Falklands War: the horror of combat in 26 photos

As for help from Chile, Edwards explained that they could use a long range radar in Punta Arenas, which allowed them to see the air movements in Ushuaia, Río Gallegos, Río Grande and Comodoro Rivadavia. He thus succeeded in coordinating the arrival in Santiago de Chile of a team from the British Special Air Service (SAS) with a secure satellite communication system.

In this line, Chile allowed British planes to fly, although painted in Chilean colors, near the border with Argentina for information. “The most important thing was early warning of airstrikes. Without it, when you have a maritime force with only a little air defense, like we did, we would have had to mount expensive combat air patrols and constantly flying planes, ready to intercept intruders, ”Edwards explained.

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