UK unveils secret files over Malvinas Islands war

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had been informed about the risks of reducing the Royal Army a year before the Argentine invasion of the Malvinas Islands in 1982, stated the secret files unveiled on Friday.

Her Foreign Affairs minister, Lord Peter Carrington, also had warned the Defence Minister John Nott that cutting the British fleet of the Antarctic would only sent wrong signs about the UK’s determination to defend the Islands.

These documents that remained in Great Britain’s National Files for 30 years, showed that the head of the Royal Army was furious in 1981 because of the plan to cut the defence expenditures.

The First Lord of the Admiralship Henry Leach, who afterwards told Thatcher that the UK could and had to send naval forces to recover the Malvinas in 1982, was furious with her the previous year because of the “unbalanced dismantling” of the military forces.

“We are in the edge of a historical decision. The wars rarely end up the way expected, and a strong maritime capacity adds flexibility to the unforeseen events,” Leach warned the Prime Minister.

These files include a letter from Lord Carrington to Nott asking him to vote against the dismantling of the ship that was patrolling the Antarctic “HMS Endurance,” indicating that this would send a wrong sign to Argentina in the midst of the tension generated by the Malvinas.

“Unless the dispute is over, and until then, it will be important to keep our presence normal in the area,” he insisted.

“Any reduction would be understood by the inhabitants of the island and by the Argentines as a decrease of our commitment with the Malvinas and our will to defend them,” it continued.

Nevertheless, his request was rejected and a month later the “HMS Endurance” was retired and the first Argentines disembarked at the Georgias del Sur Islands, in April of 1982.

The conflict that lasted 74 days and left 255 British and 649 Argentines dead, ended on June 14 1982 with the surrender of the Argentine troops.