Thatcher persuaded Reagan to cease equipping Argentina five years after the Falklands War

Just half a decade after the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher pressed then-US President Ronald Reagan to stop Argentina from re-arming.

Reagan’s administration proposed the notion to abolish the restriction on supplying US armaments to the South American country when civilian rule was restored in Argentina in 1983 under President Raul Alfonsin, declassified US papers have recently shown.

In reaction to violations of human rights, the US imposed an embargo on Argentina in 1977 when a far-right military dictatorship assumed control.

According to a US State Department cable, Mrs. Thatcher exerted pressure on Washington to postpone its intentions to permit large-scale weaponry sales to Argentina once again, the Telegraph says.

In order to negotiate a weapons transaction, the Argentinean defence minister Horacio Jaunarena travelled to Washington, DC in October 1987 and provided a list of equipment requirements.

The list featured American A4 Skyhawk fighter-bombers, a crucial part of Argentina’s air force, which during the conflict sank four and damaged six British Royal Navy ships.

They lost almost half of its sixty Skyhawk aircraft during the conflict and aimed to rebuild their air force to its pre-war levels.

According to the State Department email, the UK Government has been “extremely sensitive” about the sale of aircraft, particularly Skyhawks, to Argentina since 1982.

In 1986, Israel offered a contract to sell 12 Skyhawks to Argentina, but that would have needed the president’s approval, which was rejected as a result of Thatcher’s lobbying.

Mrs. Thatcher was worried about dangers to the Falklands if the military overthrew the government in Argentina when portions of the Argentine army revolted in April 1987.

Her worries, however, did not persuade the US State Department.

However, the UK government’s lobbying efforts were effective since the supply of fighter planes was halted and the US only consented to refurbish Argentine Skyhawks until 1994.

On the 40th anniversary of the loss of HMS Sheffield, a report that Margaret Thatcher threatened to launch a nuclear assault on Buenos Aires if France did not provide intelligence to destroy Argentina’s Exocet missiles in the Falklands War emerged earlier this year.

Twenty crew members perished when the Royal Navy ship sunk six days after being struck by one of the French-made guided missiles on May 4, 1982. 26 other military members sustained wounds, including burns.

The assault marked the first British fatality in the Falklands War, which broke out when authoritarian commander General Leopoldo Galtieri ordered Argentine troops to invade the Falklands Islands.

Then, Mrs. Thatcher allegedly threatened to launch a nuclear missile at the capital of Argentina if the information wasn’t provided.