Britain and the Dictatorships of Argentina and Chile, 1973–82 by Grace Livingstone

Author:Grace Livingstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

His report concluded: ‘We are relieved by the change of government, pleased with the calibre of the economic team and with its general philosophy and objectives and encouraged by its performance so far.’ 27

British banks, including Lloyds, Barclays, Midland and Natwest, showed their confidence in the new regime by offering US$60m of new loans to the Argentina junta and Martínez de Hoz declared his visit to London to be ‘a highlight in his tour of European capitals’. 28 Argentina secured pledges totalling US$340m from European banks, but even this large sum was dwarfed by the US$500m offered by US banks, plus a further US$159m from the IMF. 29

There followed more visits by Argentine ministers to the UK later that year. Esso and Shell invited the junta’s energy secretary, Guillermo Zubarán, to visit their operations in the North Sea, in the hope of securing business in Argentina’s offshore industry. 30 Zubarán also met Sir Jack Rampton, the top civil servant at the Department of Energy. 31 Another visitor was the minister for marine resources, Captain Noe Guevara, who was interested in purchasing British ships and discussing fishing ventures in Argentine waters. Staying as a guest of the British government in September 1976, the Argentine navy captain was given lunches by Unilever and BP, and a dinner at the Hyde Park Hotel hosted by Evan Luard MP, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the FCO. 32 He visited British shipyards in Lowestoft and met shipbuilding companies including Brooke Marine and A & P Appledore. Captain Guevara was even invited to dine at the Cambridge home of FCO official John Heap, where he met the director of the British Antarctic Survey. When preparing the evening, Heap, the head of the FCO’s Polar Regions section, wrote: ‘I envisage, while avoiding rudeness to our lady guests, a sort of mini-teach-in…in which we should touch lightly on the opportunities for Anglo-Argentine co-operation.’ 33

Civil servants and diplomats shared the British business community’s view that the military regime provided an opportunity for increased trade and investment. When the head of the Argentine business federation, Guillermo Loncán, visited London a few months after the military takeover, a British embassy official recommended listening to his views ‘if we are to take full advantage of the change in direction in the Argentine economy following the coup.’ 34 British companies rarely needed to lobby government directly; officials and company representatives held frequent informal conversations. BP, for example, gave officials appraisals of the oil potential of the waters around the Falklands and Unilever shared its thoughts on the fishing prospects. Officials and private sector executives often attended the same seminars and drinks receptions, which provided opportunities for casual exchanges.

In Argentina, there was an even more closely-knit informal social network between British diplomats, the Anglo-Argentine community and Argentine business, military and government circles. When the junta’s trade secretary, Guillermo Bravo, visited London shortly after the coup, for example, a British embassy official received a report-back through the informal channel of the Argentine minister’s spouse: ‘My

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