It was June 1953 when admiral Alberto Teisaire —later interim president of the Senate and virtual vice president due to Hortensio Quijano’s death— was sent to London as head of the Argentine delegation to participate in the coronation ceremony Queen Isabel II. Appointed to a mission by the general Juan D. PeronTeisaire’s trip to the British capital will include negotiating the sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands.

During his stay in London, Teisaire offers negotiation for the islands Falkland, which includes the option to purchase it by the State of Argentina. During an interview at the Foreign Office with Deputy Minister Lord Reading, the Argentine received an answer that accepting such a proposal would mean the automatic downfall of the country’s government. Winston Churchill —who had returned to power two years earlier.

The queen had inherited the throne more than a year before, after death George VI (1936-1952).

In his work “Behind Perón. The history and legend of Admiral Teisaire” (2013), Fabian Bossoer He stated that: “In early June ’53, Teisaire will have a special mission. The President entrusted her to travel to Great Britain to attend, as a representative of the Argentine Government, the coronation act of Queen Elizabeth II. He arrived in London on 29 May accompanied by his wife, Duilia Fayo and a small entourage. That same afternoon he attended a lunch offered by the Anglo-Argentine Society at the luxurious Claridge Hotel, in the presence of 200 British leaders from government, opposition and business, and when he spoke he wished “for a future of peace” and prosperity” for the UK. Kingdom under his new ruler. “Between Great Britain and Argentina -he expressed- the ideals are similar. We basically base our behavior on the same democratic principles. But there are those who want the world to believe that Argentina lives under a dictatorship that has dragged people into a state of misery and deprivation. These are all false accusations. Under the guidance of President Perón, the people of my country live in complete peace and harmony, enjoying a much happier life than before.” Among them, he was heard by the head of the opposition Labor Party and former Prime Minister Clement Attlee (…)”.

Bosoer relates that Teisaire used his days in London to do “a secret management and very subtle: he had a proposal that his Foreign Office interlocutors took with surprise: to buy the Latin American Malvinas Islands. The British government in the islands has warned of concerns about the possibility that Argentina will embark on an “external adventure”. The initial response from British interlocutors was to explain that such an initiative would inevitably lead to the downfall of Prime Minister Churchill and that if a referendum were to be held on the islands, its British population would decide to continue under the British flag. The Argentine replied that it was most likely the decision of the inhabitants of the islands, but at the same time he argued that there was a precedent for British territorial sales in favor of the United States: namely the West Indies. Meanwhile, Lord Reading argued that “that is a very different matter” and insisted that “the (UK) government would definitely be brought down if it agreed to such a sale”. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs documents that describe these proposed measures show, the impression that Teisaire left on his hosts, beyond a single proposal, was not good. The diplomatic official wrote that “(Teisaire’s) major mistake was attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II not only without a uniform, but without any embellishments (…) As a result, carrying out a high function of responsibility, she looked more like a lower-class maid.” The disparaging comments were intentional, and due to the fact that Teisaire did attend to the government representatives who came to meet him at the hotel in sleeves and suspenders.He was not one who did not care about elegance, nor was he one who did not know the rules of protocol and manners and customs of British diplomacy. Obviously, the attempt was unsuccessful.

In 1954, in a special election, Teissaire was elected Vice President of the Nation by a majority vote. Sometime later, his controversial actions during and after the so-called Liberation Revolution would make him a “traitor” to Peronism and a synonym for partisan disloyalty.

But that’s another story.

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