World

Argentina, Britain Moving On

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 27, 1998 / 8:54 AM EST / CBS

Britain and Argentina still don't see eye-to-eye on the Falkland Islands, but a state visit by Argentine President Carlos Menem shows they do agree on one thing: It's time to move on.

Menem on Tuesday became the first Argentine president to visit Britain since it defeated Argentina in a 10-week 1982 war over the South Atlantic archipelago.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he hoped Menem's six-day visit would reconcile Britain and Argentina after the brief but bloody war they fought over the remote South Atlantic Islands in 1982.

Argentina's ambassador to Britain, Rogelio Pfirter, also said he hoped the visit would open a new chapter in bilateral relations.

The envoy said Argentines had "a soft spot for things British," which made it all the more important to heal the wounds left by the Falklands conflict.

Sixteen years after the war, Menem and British Prime Minister Tony Blair hope to use the visit to promote a prospering trade relationship that hit a record $1.2 billion in 1997.

The 1982 war dampened historic trade ties between the two nations: Britain helped build 19th-century railroads across the Argentine pampas and introduced innovations in meat packing that helped bring wealth to the land of the gauchos.

They even set up the trains, brought in the swank Harrods department store, and gave Argentina such popular pastimes as soccer, rugby, and polo.

The ties have been expanding in recent years. Statistics show trade increased by 275 percent between 1991 and 1996, driven by banking, tobacco, automobile, and service industries.

England is now the third-largest foreign investor in Argentina, behind the United States and Spain. A contingent of some 70 Argentine businessmen will accompany Menem on the trip.

Trappings of reconciliation are high on the summit agenda. In London, Menem is to lay a wreath at Britain's Falkland Islands war memorial and attend a special service at St. Paul's Cathedral with veterans of both nations.

Still, disputes over the war fought off Argentina's Atlantic coast (8,000 miles from Britain) have not disappeared.

Menem had to persuade Hector Beiroa, the president of the Argentine Federation of War Veterans, to attend the St. Paul's service. The widow of an English paratrooper killed at Goose Green, the scene of a pivotal English victory during the war, declined to attend.

And Argentines are quick to admit that 16 years of hard feelings still lurk within the national psyche.

"We are taught from a very young age that these islands belong to us," said Carmen Dardaba, a 62-year-old nurse. "They're a part of our history, even if [the British] don't like to admit it."

Argentines still call the islands Las Malvinas rather than the Falklands. Soccer fans even chanted "The Malvinas are ours!" during Argentina's World Cup game against Britain earlier this year.

Menem declared lasweek that the sparsely populated islands are Argentina's "inalienable right" and urged Argentines not to "forget our historical responsibility nor our constitutional mandate" to reclaim them.

He has said he wants them returned to Argentina by 2000, but that's unlikely. Menem will likely bring up the issue of sovereignty at some point in London, but Blair has signaled the issue is not open for discussion.

Argentine political analyst Felipe Noguera said increasing economic ties may be the only way to put the issue to rest and maybe even solve the dispute.

"One theory has it that the Falklands problem cannot be solved until it becomes the seventh [most important] problem after those relating to trade, oil, and other matters. Maybe then we can throw the islands in as part of a deal," he said.