List of hostile incidents at the Argentine border

This is a list of hostile incidents at the Argentine border. This timeline does not include events from the 1982 Falklands War.

1950s

• 9 June 1958: The Argentine Navy destroyer ARA San Juan shelled and destroyed a Chilean lighthouse in the unpopulated Snipe islet in the Beagle Channel, during the Snipe incident.

1960s

Special edition of the Argentine newspaper Clarín, 29 November 1966. The Argentine government considered the act as "seditious", but its perpetrators were rehabilitated in 2014 by the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

• 6 November 1965: The Argentine Gendarmerie shot and killed Chilean Carabineros' Lieutenant Hernán Merino Correa during the Laguna del Desierto incident.
• 28 September 1966: A group of 18 militant Argentine nationalists hijacked a civilian Aerolineas Argentinas aircraft whilst flying over Puerto Santa Cruz and forced the captain at gunpoint to land in the Falkland Islands, where they took several civilians hostage. The crisis was resolved 36 hours later when the hijackers agreed to release their hostages and return to Argentina for trial.^[1][2]
• October 1966: A group of Argentine naval special forces conducted covert landings in the Falklands from the submarine ARA Santiago del Estero (S-12).^[3]
• 29 November 1967: The Chilean torpedo boat Quidora (PTF-82) was shelled by the ARA Francisco de Gurruchaga from Ushuaia's harbour.
• 24 June 1968: The Argentine destroyer ARA Santa Cruz found the Soviet trawlers Pavlovo and Golfstrim fishing in Argentine territorial waters. Pavlovo managed to slip away, but Golfstrim was hit by two 40 mm rounds fired by the destroyer and captured. The fishing vessel was escorted to Mar del Plata, where she was released on 9 July after paying a $ 25,000 fine.^[4][5][6]

1970s

• 4 February 1976: The Argentine destroyer ARA Almirante Storni fired warning shots at the British research ship RRS Shackleton.^[7]
• 3 and 4 October 1977: The Argentine Navy shelled and captured the Soviet trawler Prokopyevsk and the Bulgarian Ofelia and Aurelia off Puerto Madryn. Three Argentine sailors died from drowning and one Bulgarian sailor was wounded.^[8][9]

1980s

• 19 October 1984: According to the Chilean Ministry of Defense, the Argentine Army fired eight artillery rounds at a Chilean lighthouse at Punta Gusanos, near Puerto Williams.^[10][11]
• 28 May 1986: The Argentine Mantilla-class patrol vessel Prefecto Derbes shelled and sunk the Chian-der 3. Two Taiwanese fishermen were killed; four others were injured.

1990s

• 5 July 1991: The British trawler Pict, which had been part of the British Task Force in the Falklands War as an auxiliary minesweeper,^[12] was captured by the patrol boat Azopardo, from the Argentine Naval Prefecture.^[13]
• 1995: According to British reports, the Argentine corvette ARA Granville harassed seven trawlers and illuminated RFA Diligence with her radar.^[14]

2000s

• 5 February 2000: The Argentine corvette ARA Spiro shelled and captured the Taiwanese trawler Hou Chun 101 off Gulf San Jorge.^[15]
• 12 June 2002: The Argentine Naval Prefecture's patrol boat Thompson shelled and damaged the Russian squid trawler Odoyevsk off Puerto Madryn.^[16][17][18]
• 11 February 2004: The Argentine corvette ARA Drummond shelled and sunk the Taiwanese trawler Jim Chin Tsai off Comodoro Rivadavia.^[19]
• 15 March 2004: The icebreaker ARA Almirante Irízar entered a maritime area designated as conservation zones under the jurisdiction of the Falkland Islands and issued demands for other ships to identify themselves.^[20]
• 20 February 2006: The British squid trawler John Cheek was seized by the patrol boat Prefecto Fique from the Argentine Naval Prefecture.^[13][21]
• 14 March 2016: The Argentine Mantilla-class patrol vessel Prefecto Derbes shelled and sunk the illegal Chinese fishing trawler Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 after the ship refused to obey in a 4-hour pursuit and attempted to ram the patrol vessel, all 32 crew members were rescued.^[22]

Note

Michael A. Morris stated that Argentina's use of force against Chile and the United Kingdom has been "the exception rather than the rule", and that some of the hostile acts or armed incidents appear to have been caused by zealous local commanders, and not as the result of a widespread strategy.^[23]

Most of the naval incidents involve illegal fishing boats predating squids and fish species outside exploitation seasons and allowed seizing by the Argentine law in Argentine EEZ waters.^[24] Is usual for illegal boats to enter the first miles of the EEZ and run away when they are detected by the authorities. Illegal fishing boats tend to ignore official orders and when intercepted they try to ram the patrol vessels.^[25]

References

External links

• Blog with photos
• Blog with photos