Alejandro Jacobo Betts
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Alejandro Jacobo Betts (born Alexander Jacob Betts, 28 October 1947 – 13 March 2020) was a
Falklands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Du ...
-born Argentine air-traffic controller and activist who worked with the
Argentine government The government of Argentina, within the framework of a federal system, is a presidential representative democratic republic. The president of Argentina is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the president ...
as a technical advisor on the
Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...
's Malvinas Question Provincial Observatory Advisory Council. Betts supported Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands and was a controversial figure in the Falklands as a result. Betts also was the older brother of Terry Betts, who served as a member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Council and assisted British forces in the
Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
. His younger brother Peter served in the British Task Force.


Early life

Betts, a fourth generation Falkland Islander, was born to Cyril Betts and Mally Goss, who ran the Victory Bar in
Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
. The Goss family first arrived in the Falklands in approximately 1841/2, when Jacob Napoleon Goss (great-great-grandfather) and his wife Ann Patrick arrived on board the ''Alarm''. John Betts (great-great-grandfather) arrived on 9 August 1855, following the shipwreck of the ''Carlton''. Betts has two younger brothers who participated in the Falklands War: Peter, who was a merchant seaman who served with the British task force, and Terry, who was one of the islanders who volunteered to support British forces. After the war Terry was elected to serve in the
Falkland Islands Government The politics of the Falkland Islands takes place in a framework of a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary representative democratic dependency as set out by the constitution, whereby the Governor exercises the duties of head of state in t ...
. Another brother died in infancy as the result of
meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...
. He also had two half-brothers and two half-sisters from his father's first marriage. At the age of fourteen Betts went to train as sheep shearer and later worked for
LADE Líneas Aéreas del Estado (LADE, ) is an airline based in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. It is owned by the government of Argentina and operated by the Argentine Air Force. It provides domestic scheduled services, mainly in Patagonia. Hist ...
as an air-traffic controller at
Port Stanley Airport Port Stanley Airport , also merely known as Stanley Airport, is a small civil airport in the Falkland Islands, located from the capital, Stanley. This airport is the only civilian airport in the islands with a paved runway. However, the m ...
. Betts' first wife, Candy, died in 1977 at the age of 26. The couple had a son, Paul, born in 1968 and a daughter, Dawn, born in 1969. Betts' second marriage was to Rosita, a Chilean-Falkander, with whom he had two children. When he left the Falklands in 1982, he left his daughter Dawn with Rosita. His son Paul was at school in Argentina, where he still lives and has adopted the name Pablo. Following the Falklands War, Betts divorced Rosita, marrying Santina Toranzo, with whom he had three children. He married his fourth wife Carol Oyola in 2000. Betts claimed that he began to question British sovereignty over the Falklands when he spoke to an Argentine tourist about the issue in the 1970s. He stated that he started studying the
history of the Falkland Islands The history of the Falkland Islands () goes back at least five hundred years, with active exploration and colonisation only taking place in the 18th century. Nonetheless, the Falkland Islands have been a matter of controversy, as they have been ...
in 1976 and concluded after two years of research that "Argentina had absolute rights over the island territory". Betts' claim that he had supported Argentine sovereignty over the islands as early as 1976 is disputed. On 18 May 1978 Betts sent a letter to the ''Falkland Islands Times'', strongly protesting against the weak response of the British government to the establishment of an Argentine base on
Thule Island Thule Island, also called Morrell Island, is one of the southernmost of the South Sandwich Islands, part of the grouping known as Southern Thule. It is named, on account of its remote location, after the mythical land of Thule, said by ancient ...
. Both of his brothers appear to have been aware of his support for Argentina.


Falklands War

In 1982 the Argentine military government
invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...
the Falklands and occupied the islands for 74 days, which led to the
Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
between
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Betts left the Falklands a few days after the Argentine surrender, with his wife and children remaining on the islands. The reasons and circumstances surrounding Betts' departure from the Falklands are disputed. Betts claims he was forced to leave by
British forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping ef ...
, with the support of many Falkland Islanders, as a result of his support for Argentina during the war. Islanders were apparently unaware of Betts' claim to support Argentina and suggested he left the Falklands of his own accord, abandoning his wife and their children (and his 13 yr old daughter from his previous marriage), because he was having an
extramarital affair An affair is a relationship typically between two people, one or both of whom are either married or in a long-term monogamous or emotionally-exclusive relationship with someone else. The affair can be solely sexual, solely physical or solely em ...
with an Argentine who was working on the islands. John Fowler, the former deputy editor of ''
Penguin News ''Penguin News'' is the only newspaper produced in the Falkland Islands. It is published every Friday and provides news and features about the islands. History The paper was founded in 1979 by the then editor Graham Bound, and published mont ...
'', pointed out in an editorial that other islanders who
collaborated Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The f ...
with the Argentine military during the war suffered no persecution and still live in the islands.


Life in Argentina

After leaving the Falklands, Betts moved to
Córdoba Province Córdoba Province may refer to: * Córdoba Province, Argentina * Córdoba Province (Colombia) * Province of Córdoba (Spain) Córdoba (; also called Cordova in English) is one of the 50 provinces of Spain, in the north-central part of the Autonom ...
and married his Argentine partner, Caroline. In 2007 Betts unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of
Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...
. Betts campaigned in support of Argentine sovereignty over the Falklands, giving evidence at annual meetings of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
Special Committee on Decolonization The United Nations Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, or the Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24), is a committee of ...
as part of Argentina's delegation. In 1987, his brother Terry Betts also gave evidence to the committee as a member of the Falkland Islands Government and although they sat together did not speak, he later said that his brother had ″lost touch″ with developments on the islands since the war. Betts was later to criticise his brother's attendance stating: In response, John Fowler of the Penguin Times in an editorial replied: In late 2013 Betts was made a technical advisor of the Tierra del Fuego Malvinas Observatory. In his evidence to the Special Committee's meeting in 2013, Betts caused controversy when he suggested that during the Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum campaign, Peter Willets, an Emeritus Professor of Global Politics from
City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...
, had his credentials as an official referendum observer removed by the Falkland Islands Government because he stated the referendum result would not be recognised legally. Peter Willets later strongly condemned Betts' comments as a "highly distorted account" and stated that: In 2015 ''Clarín'' criticised Betts for receiving a war veteran's pension from the Argentine government despite never being a member of the
Argentine military The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic () are the combined armed forces of Argentina. It is controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the Army, Navy and Air Force, there are two s ...
and was not an Argentine citizen at the time of the war. Betts responded to the article by pointing out that he had "never denied being an Argentine Malvinas war veteran" and that one of the requisites to collect the veteran's pension is to have been in the Falklands during the war. The controversy over his treatment of his family led to the Argentine government under President Macri dropping Betts from the Argentine delegation to the UN decolonisation committee in 2018. In addition, according to ''MercoPress'', this was because he was considered "too aggressive for the British delegation and Falklands petitioners". He was criticised for his allegedly querulant behaviour by some sources. In early 2020 he was diagnosed with
spinal cancer Spinal tumors are neoplasms located in either the vertebral column or the spinal cord. There are three main types of spinal tumors classified based on their location: extradural and intradural (intradural-intramedullary and intradural-extramedulla ...
and died on 13 March 2020.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betts, Alejandro 1947 births 2020 deaths Argentine Air Force personnel of the Falklands War Air traffic controllers Deaths from cancer in Argentina Neurological disease deaths in Argentina Deaths from spinal cancer Falkland Islands emigrants to Argentina Falkland Islands farmers People from Stanley, Falkland Islands