Puerto Argentino: A Timeline 10/27/62 Story

De: James Philip

Narrado por: Stephen M. Ray Jr.

This is the second of a trilogy of Timeline 10/27/62 novellas about the invasion and the occupation of the Falkland Islands in 1964.

Nearly four years have gone by since the Argentine seized by force majeure the Falkland Islands Dependencies from the United Kingdom. To the Argentine Republic the archipelago, Las Malvinas, and all the other British territories taken by force of arms – South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the British research stations in the Antarctic – is now a part of Argentina.

The situation is so calm that the officers and men of the Argentine garrison of Las Malvinas, are bringing their families out to the islands as if the conquered territories are as safe as any mainland base. As time goes by the last vestiges of British administration are being systematically erased. Stanley, the capital of Las Malvinas is now Puerto Argentino, East Falkland is Isla Soledad and all bar a handful Kelpers (the name the former Falkland Islanders by which they referred to each other) have long been exiled. The atrocities of the invasion, the scars of the fighting in April 1964 have been built over, forgotten by the new masters of Las Malvinas; nobody thinks the British are ever coming back but that does not mean that the occupiers are not forever looking over their shoulders.

Yet the colonists and their families still keep coming; even though the surge of national pride – almost national rebirth – which initially followed the re-taking of the Argentine’s "lost" territories in the ocean the Junta now calls the Mar del Argentina, has long since run its course. The first visit by the US Navy since April 1964 seems to offer some hope that the international community has put the "Malvinas" issue to bed.

But is everything quite what it seems?

Back in 1964, in a world still struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of the October War, the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands had been a faraway thing that had happened to a couple of thousand kelpers living on a few islands in the South Atlantic, 8,000 miles from England, about which the British people in their post-October War travails, knew little and cared less.

Now, complacency in Buenos Aires and the threat of further budget cuts is beginning to question the ability of the Argentine forces of Las Malvinas to defend the conquests of 1964.

The British have not returned, yet. But does that mean that they well never return?

©2020 James P. Coldham writing as James Philip (P)2020 James P. Coldham writing as James Philip