Sovereignty in Dispute: The FalklandsMalvinas, 1493-1982 by Fritz L Hoffmann & Olga M Hoffmann

Author:Fritz L Hoffmann & Olga M Hoffmann [Hoffmann, Fritz L & Hoffmann, Olga M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781000276459
Google: a7utDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 52887754
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

Operation Cóndor

The seriousness of the situation is illustrated by an incident that occurred on September 28, 1966, and that could have developed into a dangerous confrontation between the two countries had not saner minds prevailed on both sides. On that day a group of young Argentine “nationalist” commandos hijacked an Aerolíneas Argentinas plane bound from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos and ordered the pilot to fly the plane to the Malvinas. They were under the command of Dardo M. Cabo and María Cristina Verrier, an actress and the only woman in the group. They called the exploit Operation Condor. At the time Britain and Argentina were secretly negotiating the prospect of oil and gas exploration in the Malvinas area, and the hijacking hurt the negotiations.

As there was no airport in Stanley to accommodate the plane (a DC-4), the pilot dexterously made a dangerous landing on a soggy race track, where the plane promptly bogged down. The hijackers, heavily armed, left the plane, took hostage several curious persons who had come to see what was happening, and planted Argentine flags around the plane. The passengers were permitted to leave the plane, and were quickly given shelter in private homes through the intervention of the Catholic and Anglican priests in town. The hijackers kept the crew with them in the plane as hostages.

The Catholic priest, Rudolf Roel, noting the nervousness of the commandos, tried to quiet them down and conducted religious services for them inside the plane. They told him they had come to reclaim Argentine territory as good Argentine patriots, because the long-drawn-out diplomatic negoitations had gone nowhere. At the request of the priest they released the hostages, but they said they would not surrender to British authorities unless the Argentine government asked them to do so. Becoming weaker because of the cold and lack of food, the hijackers requested twenty-four hours to consider the conditions of surrender. They surrendered on the night of September 29, and were interned in a church and guarded by the local constabulary.

The incident set off a chain of reaction of anti-British demonstrations in Argentina. In Rosario a group of young nationalists attacked the British consulate, destroying furniture, and the Anglo-Argentine Cultural Institute, where they burned a British flag. In Córdoba anti-British demonstrations were held in the streets. In Buenos Aires shots from a fast-moving car hit the British embassy, where the duke of Edinburgh was staying during a three-week visit to Argentina in celebration of Argentina’s declaration of independence. No one was hurt, but rumors quickly spread that an attempt would be made to kidnap the duke and hold him hostage until the Malvinas were returned to Argentina. Civic and labor groups met in special meetings and/or issued circulars supporting the hijackers’ acts. In Rio Gallegos, the Argentine port closest to the Malvinas, Miguel L. Fitzgerald, a private pilot who had flown alone to the Malvinas in 1964, prepared to fly there again with a group of newsmen and photographers but was stopped by local authorities.

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