‘Escalation of hostilities’
HERE’S what was front page of The News on May 8, 1982 as the British extended their exclusion zone in the South Atlantic.
Defiance over new war zone, Argentina ‘will fight anywhere’
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry has said the British decision to extend its exclusion zone to within 12 miles of the mainland means that it now covers virtually the whole South Atlantic.
It described the move as an escalation of hostilities and denounced what it called ‘an absence of good faith on the part of Britain’.
Defence Minister (Mr Amadeo Frugoli) has denounced the extension of the zone as ‘an act of intransigence’.
And a Foreign Ministry source claimed Britain would need at least three fleets to back the zone up.
Running out of patience with Argentina, the British
Government extended the 200-mile, no-go zone to 12 miles from the Falklands invader’s coastline, warning: ‘Keep your warships at home or risk the consequences.’
Any of the junta’s warships or military aircraft found more than 12 miles from the Argentinian coast will be regarded as hostile and ‘liable to be dealt with accordingly.’
The move, announced after a meeting of Mrs Thatcher’s ‘War Cabinet’, was greeted with defiance by Argentina.
It protested to the UN, accused Britain of an ‘act of intransigence’, and the Defence Minister said Argentina would fight wherever and whenever required.
Meanwhile, Britain is preparing to increase its air power in the South Atlantic to prevent a repeat of the disaster which befell the destroyer HMS Sheffield.
The new blockade of Argentinian air and naval bases is seen as a bid to bottle up the junta’s lethal air power without resorting to bombing its mainland runways.