ABSTRACT
The year 1979 brought a new government to Britain under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, whose Conservative Party was voted into power in May 1979. While Argentines were celebrating the Week of the Malvinas, the new British government was quietly discussing the options open to it in regard to the Falklands: break off negotiations and prepare to defend the islands against Argentine attacks. In the meantime the 1971 agreements for the establishment of communications and trade between the islands and continental Argentina seemed to be bearing fruit. Argentine periodicals pointed out that such action would contravene United Nations resolutions by bringing a new factor into the negotiations, a policy Argentina had always rejected on legal grounds. Early in June 1981, Ambassador Williams warned his government that ground had been lost since the February talks and that it might be difficult to rely on continued Argentine understanding.
