page_title: Occupation of the Falkland Islands
section_title: 74 days of occupation
hierarchical_section_title: Occupation of the Falkland Islands / 74 days of occupation
caption_attribution_description: Español: Malvinas. Ciudadanos ingleses y soldados argentinos durante los días de guerra, año 1982. AGN_DDF/ Caja 3534, inv: 336640. Fuente: Agn Argentina Efemérides
context_page_description: The occupation of the Falkland Islands and of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was the short-lived Argentine administration of a group of British islands in the South Atlantic whose sovereignty has long been disputed by Argentina. Until their invasion on 2 April 1982 by the Argentine military junta, they had been governed by the United Kingdom since it re-established control over them in 1833.
  The invasion and subsequent occupation signalled the start of the Falklands War, which resulted in the islands' returning to British control on 14 June 1982.
context_section_description: On the first day of the occupation, Governor Hunt and officials from the Foreign Office were removed from the islands by the Argentine forces and sent to Montevideo, Uruguay. Argentine troops took over control of the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Studio when Patrick Watts was live on air.
  Argentina used Spanish while on the islands, including the use of Puerto Argentino, the Argentine name for Port Stanley.  Vehicles were told to drive on the right, with painted arrows on the road indicating the direction of traffic. Street signs and traffic signs were changed accordingly, including the use of the metric system. The Argentinian captain, Barry Melbourne Hussey, who was chosen for a position in the administration due to his knowledge and experience of English, asserted safety as a major concern, during discussions with the Falkland Islanders: "Which would you prefer, that our eighteen-year-old conscripts, with their big lorries, should try to drive on the left, or that you, with your little vehicles, change to the right?". However, outside Stanley, most roads were single track anyway and some islanders refused to observe the new rule and continued to drive on the left. Other acts of civil disobedience included Reg Silvey (lighthouse keeper and ham radio enthusiast) broadcasting clandestine radio messages throughout the occupation.
  During the 74-day occupation, 114 inhabitants of Goose Green, considered to be potential troublemakers, were imprisoned and 14 residents of Stanley were sent to Fox Bay East and placed under house arrest. Lieutenant-Colonel Ítalo Piaggi, the Commanding Officer of the Argentine 12th Infantry Regiment, said that the lockdown in Goose Green was to protect the locals from "the rage of the air force men, who had lost so many colleagues." The Argentine military evacuated 52 schoolchildren from Stanley and turned the playground of the school into a compound for drilling troops.  The Argentine peso replaced the Falkland Islands pound and stamps were overfranked with an Islas Malvinas postcode.
  The Argentine military police arrived on the islands with detailed files on many islanders. One of their first actions was to arrest and deport noted critics of links to Argentina including David Colville, as well as Bill Luxton and his family.  Such deportations proved internationally embarrassing as Bill Luxton gave numerous interviews on his deportation and subsequently detainees faced internal exile at Fox Bay.
  Major Patricio Dowling, an Argentine of Irish origin, became the chief of police.  He frequently overstepped his authority, ignoring instructions to treat the islanders with respect, and quickly became known throughout the islands for his tendency to resort to violence.  Dowling imposed a regime of arbitrary house searches, arrests and questioning.  His actions came to the attention of Comodoro Carlos Bloomer-Reeve who recommended to Brigadier-General Menéndez that he be removed and he was subsequently sent back to the mainland in disgrace.
  Comodoro Carlos Bloomer-Reeve, chief of the Secretariat of the new government, in conjunction with Major Barry Hussey were instrumental in protecting the Falkland Islanders and avoiding conflict with the Argentine military.  Bloomer-Reeve had previously lived on the islands between 1975 and 1976, when he ran the LADE operation in Stanley and had great affection for the islanders.  Despite their political differences, the humanity and moral courage of both men earned them the enduring respect and even friendship of many islanders.
  There was no widespread abuse of the population. After the war it was found that even the islanders' personal food supplies and stocks of alcohol were untouched, and Brigadier-General Menéndez, the Argentine governor of the Islands, had made it clear from the start that he would not engage in any combat in Stanley itself. However, in the last day of battle, Private Santiago Carrizo of the 3rd Regiment described how a platoon commander ordered them to take up positions in the houses and "if a Kelper resists, shoot him", though the entire compa
caption: Argentina's occupation of the Falkland Islands in 1982
exif: {}