Mario Benjamin Menendez, Military Governor, died at 85

  Dead Famous

Mario Benjamin Menendez, born on April 3, 1930 and died September 18, 2015, he was the Argentine governor of the Falklands during the 1982 Argentine occupation of the islands. He also served in the Argentine Army.

Mario surrendered Argentine forces to Britain during the Falklands War.

The retired Argentine Army general was once described by late Argentine dictator Leopoldo Galtieri who ordered the Falklands invasion as the best ever.

He was behind a bold move to strike at British logistics and capture soldiers after the Argentine defeat at the Battle of Goose Green.

The move only failed because elite British forces patrolling Mount Kent ambushed the enemy commandos, killing ten and taking several prisoner and saving heavy loss of British life and equipment.

Mario , who came from a military family, defied orders from Argentine president Galtieri to carry on fighting until he had lost 50 per cent of his men and used 75 per cent of his ammunition to surrender to British Major General Jeremy Moore in Port Stanley.

A month later he had been stripped of his power and soon after returning to Argentina he was arrested and sent to a military base for 60 days of detention.

He was rearrested in October 2012 and briefly imprisoned for his alleged role in human rights violations in 1975 ahead of the return to power of Argentina’s military.

Speaking three years ago in his only detailed account of the Falklands surrender, Gen Mario said: ‘As a military officer, surrendering is something you never want to think about.

‘The other generals passed on the hot potato. They left me there until the end.’

Recalling his meeting with Maj Gen Moore, he added: ‘I hadn’t slept for 36 hours. I was so tired. I made myself presentable, like a German general would…..

Argentine governor of the Falklands during the 1982 invasion who defied orders to carry on fighting died at age 85.