The Iberian decision to join the Military Alliance days after British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered the torpedoing and sinking of the ARA Cruiser General Belgrano outside the combat zone while the war between Argentina and Great Britain was being fought in the waters of the South Atlantic, us It was remembered by the journalist and historian from Río Grande (Tierra del Fuego), Oscar Domingo Gutiérrez.
The website of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation corroborates this . On May 30, 1982, Spain became the 16th member of NATO.
The fact that the kingdom of Spain was incorporated on that date is more than a symbol. It is the palpable demonstration that he chose to join with the founder of NATO at the same moment of war confrontation between Argentina and Great Britain for the armed recovery of the islands usurped in 1833.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an alliance of countries in Europe and North America promoted by the US, the United Kingdom and France, which was born in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty. Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal joined him as founders. The twelve promised to defend each other, in case there was an armed aggression against any of them.
In addition to joining the Atlantic Alliance in military terms, its alignment with Great Britain allowed Spain just 5 years after the war; become a trading partner with England, in fishing exploitation in waters adjacent to the Malvinas, managing in a short time to change the economic equation of the colony, from deficit to surplus.
The King of Spain and the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, in the new facilities of NATO Headquarters in Brussels (2018).
NATO is currently made up of 31 member states: the twelve founding countries (United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the United Kingdom and Portugal), Greece, Turkey (which joined in 1952), the Federal Republic of Germany (1955), Spain (1982), Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic (1999), Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (2004), Albania, Croatia (2009 ), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020) and Finland (2023). The 31 members have already signed Sweden's Accession Protocol, pending ratification by the Parliaments of Hungary and Turkey for that country's accession to become effective. “Any other European State that is in a position to promote the development of the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic region” may join the organization (article 10 of the Washington Treaty). The Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg is the Secretary General of the organization.
