War of Words Precedes Argentine President’s Visit to Britain

Preparing for the first visit to Britain by an Argentine leader since the 1982 Falklands War, President Carlos Menem said Friday that he “deeply regretted” the bloody Anglo-Argentine conflict and hoped to further relations between the two countries next week.

But his regrets, conveyed in the Sun tabloid Friday morning, served to open old wounds rather than heal them.

“Yes, 1982 was a sad and traumatic blot in the history of our relations,” Menem wrote about the war fought over the South Atlantic islands that Argentina calls Las Malvinas.

“Some brave young Argentine and British soldiers lost their lives in a conflict that should never have happened and that we deeply regret,” he wrote.

The Sun published Menem’s guest column with the front-page headline: “Argentina Says: We’re Sorry for Falklands.”

However, as soon as the newspaper hit the streets, Menem denied that he was apologizing.

By the time the Evening Standard tabloid hit the streets, it was reporting Menem’s subsequent comments to British reporters in Buenos Aires under the screaming headline: “I’m Not Sorry for Falklands.”

Moreover, Menem reminded the British media that Argentina still lays claim to the Falklands and that he will restate that claim during his visit to Britain beginning Tuesday.

He added, however, that “Argentina is formally committed to pursue the question exclusively by peaceful means.”

Adding fuel to the fire, the Argentine leader threw his support behind the Chilean government’s assertion that Britain should honor the diplomatic immunity of former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and allow him to go free.

Pinochet, 82, retired commander of the armed forces and a senator-for-life in Chile, is being detained by British police at a private London clinic where he recently underwent back surgery. He is being held on an extradition warrant submitted by Spanish judges for the slayings of Spanish citizens committed during his 17-year reign.

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s Conservative leader during the Falklands War, called Thursday for Pinochet’s release. She said she thought it was “disgraceful” for the government to reconcile with Menem while detaining Pinochet, “someone who, during the same conflict, did so much to save so many British lives.”

Chile quietly supported Britain during the conflict.

Menem’s diplomatic to-ing and fro-ing was an awkward attempt to balance the need to extend a hand to the British public in advance of his trip, while attending to domestic opinion in Argentina.

Most Argentines would blame their military for having led the country into the failed war in 1982, but they would be furious if Menem were to back away from the country’s claim to the islands.

An Argentine military junta led by Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri ordered the invasion of the Falklands on April 2, 1982, and occupied the British self-governing islands by force.

Thatcher sent the British fleet to recapture the islands, which it did in 10 weeks, but with more than 250 war dead.

Menem said he would pay tribute to the victims of the war by laying a wreath at their memorial at St. Paul’s Cathedral at the beginning of his visit.

Menem’s apology--or non-apology, as he would have it--became a hotly debated issue on British radio and television, with public opinion divided as to whether it was genuine and sufficient.

The president of the Falkland Island Families Assn. welcomed Menem’s expression of regret as “a positive step forward.”

However, Des Keoghan, whose son, Kevin, was killed on board the Sir Galahad troop ship, said he would not want to appear alongside Menem at the wreath-laying.

“If they gave up their claim to the Falklands, that would make it different,” Keoghan said.

Rex Hunt, governor of the Falklands during the war, said Menem’s statement did not go far enough.

“Personally, I am sorry that he hasn’t made an apology, a genuine apology, for Argentina starting the war in 1982,” Hunt said, adding that the time to invite Menem was after Argentina renounced its claim to the islands.

Argentina and Britain have been mending their relations for nearly a decade. They resumed diplomatic relations in 1990 and, according to Menem, trade is flourishing.

“In 1997, it reached a record figure of $1.2 billion. British exports to Argentina increased by 275% between 1991 and 1996,” he wrote. British investment there totaled $3.7 billion between 1990 and 1997.

Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government tried to sidestep the controversy. Asked whether the Sun article was an apology, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The words speak for themselves. . . . We welcome the sentiments expressed.”

There was some public debate as to who was making foreign policy--the Blair government or the Sun, a newspaper known for its crude nationalism during the Falklands War.

Sun Editor David Yellen had the idea for the Menem article and approached the government with the idea.

The suggestion was passed on to Menem, who was “happy to do so,” according to a government spokesman.

Menem said the Falklands issue would not dominate the trade-oriented visit.