MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US media: Washington needs to capitalize on Falklands case to restore hemispheric unity

Getting British acquiescence to policies favoring the Falklands rapprochement with South America is something the United States can likely deliver, but Russia and China cannot

However small, remote, and irrelevant to Washington the South Atlantic might be, it might prove vital if the United States is to rebuild its hemispheric strategy lost as a result of helping the United Kingdom retake the Falklands from Argentine forces back in 1982, according to a Foreign Policy article published Sunday.

Author Antonio De Loera-Brust, who has a background as a staffer at the US Congress and the State Department, published an article on Sunday, Feb. 26, in https://foreignpolicy.com/ suggesting the United States capitalizes on the dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands to regain some degree of hemispheric control.

After an in-depth review of the Islands' history and particularly of the 1982 war, the author comes to the conclusion that “[t]he 1980s saw the legitimacy of the inter-American system that grew out of [former US President Franklin D.] Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy and the Second World War sunk alongside the Argentine Navy.”

In his view, President Ronald Reagan's support for the British entailed the disruption of the inter-American system, something from which the United States has never recovered. Such was the price of the US getting involved in a conflict over “the Falkland Islands [which] are clearly not a place of great significance for the United States’ own vital interests.”

“Though barely noticed in the United States, the Falklands War marked an end to that era of hemispheric unity against extra-hemispheric rivals,” he added.

“Today, every Latin American nation recognizes the Falklands as Argentine territory, even Chile, which under the [Gen. Augusto] Pinochet dictatorship had backed Britain amid its own territorial dispute with Argentina,” the article also noted, while insisting that ”[d]isplays of Latin American solidarity with Argentina’s claim (...) are (...) a relatively routine occurrence.“

The author also cited Mexico's withdrawal from the Rio Treaty in 2002 ”noting that despite the collective defense mechanism in the treaty, no one came to Argentina’s aid“ in 1982.

With Moscow and Beijing actively playing their pieces across the South American chessboard, Washington ought to do something about it. ”The Falklands could be one place for the United States to demonstrate that it values Latin America’s views and priorities, not just our own. The United States could begin by acknowledging that it chose European allies over its American neighbors back in 1982. And while British sovereignty over the islands is not worth contesting today, the Latin American position on the issue is worth respecting, not ignoring ... to help unite the Western Hemisphere once again,“ De Loera-Brust argued while calling for ”constructive“ efforts to ensure ”that both British subjects and Argentine citizens can productively share in and coexist on the islands.“

These endeavors ”could include supporting reconciliation and memorial efforts that involve Argentines, expanding Argentines’ ability to live and work in the Falklands, encouraging Britain and the Falkland Islands government to permit direct flights from Argentina to the Falklands (a persistent sore spot that has also impacted the Falklands’ ability to remain connected to the South American mainland), and developing structures that will allow Argentina to share in the Falklands’ resource wealth. Getting British acquiescence to such policies is something the United States can likely deliver—and that Russia and China can’t,” the author concluded.

The full article can be found at https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/26/the-united-states-has-never-recovered-from-the-falklands-war/. Foreign Policy is a publication of the Graham Digital Holding Company.