A Cold War

The 600-mile trip back from Greenwich Island and Graham Land was; rough and uncomfortable. Polar gales churned the iceberg-haunted seas until the transport Presidente Pinto ran for shelter among the rainswept islands north of Cape Horn. But Chile's far-faring President Gabriel Gonzalez Videla was in high spirits. His voyage to nail down Chilean Claims to Antarctic territories also claimed by the British had made him the most popular man in his country.

Showman Gonzalez was not alone in the international claim-staking act. The Argentines were in a dispute with the British over Antarctic lands and the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Argentine Task Force I, five ships with no fewer than five admirals aboard, had pushed south to visit the outpost on Deception Island. It made quite a show of power, especially since the Argentine hut on Deception is only 80 feet from the British base. But when the Argentines learned that the British had sent the 8,000-ton cruiser Nigeria from South Africa to the same waters, they cried out that sovereignty could never be settled by "force" and "tonnage."*

For the Voters. Nevertheless the Argentine show helped Peron at home. For once (and just a fortnight before the congressional elections), the entire press stood with his government. Thundered the anti-Peron La Prensa: "No Argentine citizen will ever agree that his government should have to ask permission in order to occupy Antarctic lands belonging to the national patrimony."

Guatemala hurriedly prepared to recognize both Chile's and Argentina's Antarctic claims, even though they overlapped. Argentine Tango Composer Enrique Dicepolas got a cable from Mexico City: "Word has reached here of the gallant posture you've assumed in front of the intransigent British lion. It pleases me to offer you the Mexican fleet if Argentina needs reinforcements to defeat the English wherever they may be found. Because what are we? Brave cats or miserable mice? At your service. Signed: Juan Charrasqueado [Scarface John--Mexico's man-in-the-street and currently the subject of a popular song]."

For the Penguins. British Minister of State Hector McNeil favored putting the controversy to the International Court at the Hague. Because Chile and Argentina based their claims chiefly on proximity and occupation, the British had a good case. They had sailed the Antarctic seas since 1773, whaled there, set up a formal government for part of the disputed area in 1908, and had organized more than half the expeditions ever sent into the Antarctic. Said the Manchester Guardian confidently: "Let Latin American oratory have its fling and the penguins applaud. It should be enough for us to put our case diplomatically."

Gabriel Gonzalez of Chile was not even listening. As the Presidente Pinto approached the Strait of Magellan, he radioed triumphantly: "It is possible there is uranium in the Antarctic. I am personally carrying many ore samples that I will have analyzed in Santiago."

No other official had even mentioned the possibility of uranium in the desolate, blizzard-blasted Antarctic, and jaunty Gabriel Gonzalez, no man to play down a story, was talking in part at least for the home folks. But if he proved to be right, the dispute over property rights on Deception and points south would become a dispute indeed.

*The dispute did not head off a soccer game between crews of H.M. sloop Snipe and the Argentine minesweeper Seaver, both stationed at Deception Island. Score: Britain 1, Argentina 0.

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