Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XIII, Conflict in the South Atlantic, 1981–1984

282. Memorandum of Conversation¹

New York, May 21, 1982

We have direct confirmation of the views of General Lami Doso concerning Argentina’s response to Belaunde:²

1. He asserts they,³ accepted all of Belaunde’s proposals, including the specifications that the administration of the islands would be under United Nations administration.

2. That negotiations would take place in the framework of a United Nations Security Council resolution, the Charter of the United Nations, Resolution 502 and other pertinent resolutions.

3. That a Contact Group of four nations should oversee (or guarantee?) the negotiations with two nations to be chosen by each side.

We are particularly warned against mischief making in New York. Contact with chiefs necessary.

Evacuation of American dependents is widely interpreted as foreshadowing a new US hard line.

Finally, principal and continent feel United Kingdom will escalate only with assurances of United States support. They deeply fear a hard line from New York and current debate.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick⁴

1. Source: Department of State, Executive Secretariat, Files of Alexander M. Haig, Jr., 1981–1982, Lot 82D370, (3) Falklands Crisis 1982. Confidential. Drafted by Kirkpatrick. A handwritten time of 1:30 p.m. is in the upper right-hand corner of the memorandum. A notation in an unknown hand in the bottom right-hand corner indicates the memorandum was received in S at 1:50. The date of the receipt is unclear.
2. On the afternoon of May 20, BelaŠnde presented the Argentines and British with a “new formula” for a peace settlement in the South Atlantic, which stipulated: “1. Each nation subscribes unilaterally to their latest proposal for an agreement presented to the Secretary General of the United Nations; 2. The Secretary General fulfills the clauses in which there are points of agreement, such as: (A) a ceasefire; (B) the mutual withdrawal of forces; (C) administration of the government of the Islands by the United Nations or by a contact group, formed by various countries, within a period which is agreed in the two proposals; 3. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr. Perez de Cuellar, or the contact group, acceptable to both parties, which he will propose, will be responsible for organizing and presiding over negotiations in pursuit of a permanent solution and for supervising the immediate withdrawal from the zone of conflict of the forces of both countries.” (Telegram 5234 from Lima, May 20; Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, D820265–0589) The U.S. response to the proposal, which the Department believed would not resolve the dispute, was transmitted in telegram 139656 to Lima, May 21. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, D850186–0311)
3. An unknown hand inserted the word “chiefs” above “they.”
4. Kirkpatrick initialed “JJK” next to her typed signature.