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Although Thatcher's Western European allies supported her decision to regain the Falklands, they share the U.S. view that Britain must now show the flexibility to find a long-term solution that will avoid another war in the South Atlantic. Says a French Foreign Ministry spokesman: "Talk of turning the islands into a kind of aircraft carrier is not the answer." Similarly, West Germany is anxious to lift the economic sanctions that were leveled against Argentina at the beginning of the crisis. Belgian Foreign Minister Leo Tindemans noted that the main purpose of the sanctions was to bring pressure on Argentina to negotiate over the Falklands. Whether the sanctions remain in force, he added, "depends on whether action for peace develops."
Britain's next moves will be watched throughout Latin America, where many countries have charged the U.S. with violating the 1947 Rio Treaty by supporting a European "aggressor" in the hemisphere. Yet despite the anti-U.S. sentiments, Argentina's Latin neighbors have taken widely differing positions on the Falklands war. Colombia, South America's largest democracy, opposed the use of force to seize the island. Says Colombia's Interior Minister, Jorge Mario Eastman: "Argentina's defeat is a triumph for the [view] that international disputes must be resolved through legal procedures and not aggression."
The most powerful Latin countries in the hemisphere, Brazil and Mexico, have carefully maintained support for the principle of Argentine sovereignty over the Falklands but without endorsing the invasion that precipitated the South Atlantic war. Some of the smaller Latin countries have been positively relieved by Argentina's defeat. One example is Belize, which is claimed by neighboring Guatemala. Protected by an 1,800-man British garrison, Belizeans saw the Falklands war as a dry run of their ability to survive as an independent nation.
In Chile, officials regarded the Falklands war with foreboding from the start. Chile and Argentina almost went to war in 1978 over three tiny and barren islands in the remote Beagle Channel at the southern tip of the continent. Many Chileans are convinced that Argentina's assault on the Falklands was part of a broader plan that also included a takeover of the Beagle Channel islands. But Chileans have not been heartened by Argentina's defeat. They are worried that Buenos Aires will lash out in their direction as a kind of psychological compensation. Says an official in Santiago: "The situation is very dangerous."