Alexander Haig mediates Argentine-British conflict, April 9, 1982

On this day in 1982, Secretary of State Alexander Haig flew to London in an effort to mediate a peaceful end to the Falklands crisis between Argentina and Britain. On arriving at Heathrow Airport, Haig said “the situation is very tense and very difficult.” He also said that he had no “American-approved solutions in my kit bag.”

A week earlier, Argentina had landed some 600 troops on the tiny British possession in the South Atlantic, of whom about 80 clashed with a small contingent of British Marines stationed there.

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Meantime, Nicanor Costa Mendez, the Argentine foreign minister, said the danger of war was waning after returning to Buenos Aires from a meeting with Haig in Washington. At the time, Argentine intelligence officers were working with the CIA to bolster Contra insurgents in Nicaragua. Prior to mounting their invasion on April 1, the Argentines believed they might be rewarded for this help through a policy of noninterference by the United States.

President Ronald Reagan’s administration was divided on the issue. Haig, believing the equivocation could undermine the NATO alliance, favored backing Britain. But Thomas Enders, the assistant secretary of state for Inter-American affairs, feared that supporting Britain would undermine U.S. anti-communist efforts in Latin America.

U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick sided with Enders. Kirkpatrick was the guest of honor at a dinner held by the Argentine ambassador on the day the Argentine military landed on the islands.

Reagan said he couldn’t understand why two allies were arguing over “that little ice-cold bunch of land down there.” But he approved Haig’s “shuttle diplomacy” mission between London and Buenos Aires, which collapsed on April 30. At the end of the month, Reagan blamed Argentina for the failure of the mediation effort, declared U.S. support for Britain and imposed economic sanctions against Argentina.

SOURCE: WWW.NYTIMES.COM

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