Searching for a Scapegoat

Former President Galtieri goes to jail for being too candid

In the year since Argentina's attempt to seize the Falkland Islands ended in a humiliating defeat by British forces, the military government has never issued a full explanation for the fiasco. Former President Leopoldo Galtieri, who masterminded the foiled invasion and then left office in disgrace three days after his country's surrender, has finally lifted that veil of secrecy. His candid account of military incompetence and official bungling stunned not only his countrymen but members of the ruling three-man junta and his successor, President Reynaldo Bignone. Last week the government charged Galtieri with violating military regulations that bar officers from discussing political matters without permission. They sentenced him to 45 days in prison.

In a rambling interview published in the mass-circulation Buenos Aires Clarin, Galtieri revealed just how I little he understood U.S. and British attitudes prior to the invasion. Blind to the close ties that bind the U.S. and Britain, Galtieri had managed to convince himself that his cordial relations with the Reagan Administration meant that the U.S. would remain neutral. "I was North America's pampered child," Galtieri said. He also admitted that "we would never have invaded" if he had known that the U.S. would eventually give logistical support to the British forces after the failure of Secretary of State Alexander Haig's negotiating shuttle. With equal naivete, Galtieri added that Britain's "stormy reaction" to the Argentine invasion "had not been foreseen."

According to Galtieri, the confusion within Argentina's military leadership was even worse. Visiting the Falklands, he found his soldiers so badly deployed that he thought of relieving General Mario Benjamin Menendez, commander of the 10,000-man garrison on the islands. Galtieri later rejected the idea for fear that it would cause panic among the dispirited troops. As conditions deteriorated, he says, Menendez "seemed to shrink five centimeters every day." Faced with a severe equipment shortage, Galtieri reveals that he bought ten Mirage jets from Peru, then cut a deal with Libyan Dictator Muammar Gaddafi for the delivery of five Boeings loaded with materiel. Galtieri also admits what everyone has suspected all along: he did not resign voluntarily after the debacle. His fellow generals forced him to quit.

If Argentina's current military rulers have overreacted to Galtieri's outspokenness, it is because they too bear responsibility for the Falklands fiasco. Buenos Aires is rife with speculation that Galtieri's arrest is only the first step in a campaign by the junta to saddle him with the Falklands failure, allowing the rest of the military establishment to escape blame. The generals, in any event, are on their way out. In a further move toward a promised return to civilian rule by early next year, the junta last week restored the political rights of 19 party and labor leaders. The government also released 74 political prisoners, although an additional 175 remain in jail. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.