The Malvinas and South Atlantic Islands next of kin commission and the Cruiser General Belgrano-last crew association will be honoring next Friday 2 May the 323 crew members of the Argentine man-of-war sunk during the Falklands/Malvinas conflict in 1982.
A fake tape of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher arguing over the Falklands War had the British secret services scrambling to identify the culprits, archive files released Friday showed. The tape, supposedly a telephone recording of then US president Reagan and the British prime minister, was anonymously sent to several Dutch newspapers during the 1983 UK general election.
In a brief message Gilbert House, seat of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly made public its condolences to the family and friends of Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward who was commander of the carrier force sent to recover the Falklands invaded and occupied by Argentine forces.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez honoured the memory of the 323 crew members from the cruiser “General Belgrano” who lost their lives during the Malvinas war, “today, 31 years ago” and described the British torpedo attack on the vessel as “a criminal and coward action”.
The Malvinas cause will only come to an end when Argentina has definitive possession of the Islands, said Argentine defence minister Arturo Puricelli during a military ceremony to remember the 31st anniversary of the loss of cruiser ‘General Belgrano”, during the Falklands’ conflict torpedoed on 2 May 1982 by a Royal Navy submersible with the loss of 323 lives.
An Argentine radical group involved in actions against cruise vessels and maritime traffic with the Falkland Islands has promised a similar campaign against Lan Chile offices in Buenos Aires, the airline which flies the only link of the Islands with the continent.
The Argentine government remains silent on the death last Monday of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but several lawmakers, former officials and Malvinas veterans organizations did have something say and not only linked to the Falklands war and the sinking of the Argentine cruiser ‘Belgrano’ in May 1982.
The death of Baroness Thatcher, Prime Minister when the recovery of the Falklands by a British Task Force did not inspire a single word from the Argentine government, but other Latinamerican leaders and countries sent their condolences and praised the courage and determination of the Iron Lady.
When the head of Argentina's military junta General Leopold Galtieri deployed military forces in the Falkland Islands, Britain assembled a task force to sail to the South Atlantic, to the astonishment of people in Britain, and the rest of the world.
On the 30th anniversary of the South Atlantic conflict, the member of the Royal Navy who was responsible for coordinating the attack on the Argentina Navy cruiser “General Belgrano” spoke to UK-based newspaper “The News,” in Portsmouth and explained the steps that led up to the attack that caused 323 deaths and why it was justified at the time.