UK demands £45m ‘war’ debt from Argentina
BRITAIN is chasing a £45million debt owed by Argentina on a 1979 loan that the country’s ruling military junta spent on weapons used to invade the Falkland Islands.
It says it has no plans to cancel the debt, despite being urged to do so by campaigners who say the “illegitimate and odious” loan should never have been made.
Business Secretary Vince Cable’s department inherited the debt after Argentina defaulted on loans to UK arms exporters, which were underwritten by the Government.
The weapons supplied by those exporters included two Lynx helicopters and two Type 42 warships, which were used in the Falklands invasion in 1982. One of the combat helicopters, built by Westland, was among the first to arrive on the British territory after the Argentinian landing 30 years ago last week.
But campaigners want Mr Cable to honour his Liberal Democrat party’s policy of cancelling debt “recklessly given to dictators”.
A spokesman for the Business Department, which is owed the cash, said it would keep pressing Argentina for the money. He said: “The Government has no plans to offer debt forgiveness.”
The Government has no plans to offer debt forgiveness
He said that if Argentina had problems repaying, it could apply for help to the Paris Club, the 19-nation inter-governmental body that agrees debt relief.
In 2008, Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced plans to pay off the entirety of debt owed to the Paris Club, which amounted to £4.2billion. But political pressures and the economic downturn have meant Argentina is unlikely to clear its debt soon.
Nick Dearden, director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: “Lending the military junta money to buy British weapons was illegitimate and odious. The Liberal Democrats must stick to their pledge to rule invalid loans recklessly given to dictators. The Government must...stop subsidising war through the backing of loans to other governments to buy weapons.”
Lord Owen signed the loan decision when he was Labour Foreign Secretary in 1979 but at the time even he questioned a deal with a regime that could “come close to a confrontation with us over the Falklands”.
Mr Dearden said files show Dr Owen knew the UK was “lending money for arms to an abhorrent regime”.
