A Sensational Hostage

Abstract

By mid 1975 the new British policy was in place. Yet progress in the negotiations was still being hampered by political instability in Argentina. In preparation for September’s meeting with Alberto Vignes in New York, Callaghan intended to send assistant under-secretary Robin Edmonds to Buenos Aires. But he changed his mind following more cheerless news from the ambassador. With Isabelita’s government teetering on the brink, Vignes’ position was left precarious. This caused problems for the Foreign Office, since Ashe had been dealing exclusively with the secretive foreign minister. Callaghan wanted to get the measure of his successor before proceeding. As a result, Edmonds’ visit was cancelled and implementation of policy was put on hold.¹ Inevitably this displeased Ashe’s latest interlocutor, the deputy foreign minister Juan Carlos Beltramino, who demanded that sovereignty talks be in progress prior to the ministerial meeting. Beltramino thought little of the ‘package’ which Vignes had accepted as the basis for negotiations. In his eyes it represented ‘a retrograde step which takes us backwards even beyond the stage reached when previous discussions had been broken off in 1968 and 1974’. A former head of the Malvinas Department, Beltramino was a passionate protagonist of the Argentine claim to sovereignty. His hard-nosed attitude confirmed Ashe’s suspicion that Vignes was on his way out, and that the deputy was intent on self-preservation.²