<P> Subsequently, the United Provinces tried to re-establish the settlement at Puerto Soledad as a penal colony, but a mutiny resulted in the murder of one Governor . Shortly after that mutiny had been quelled, in January 1833, a British naval task force arrived charged with the re-establishment of British rule on the islands . The British requested that the Argentine administration leave the islands, who complied with that request without a shot being fired . Contrary to popular belief, the settlers on the island were not expelled at the same time, but were encouraged by the British to remain . The islands remained continuously in British possession from then until 1982 . </P> <P> During the period 1976--1983, Argentina was under the control of a military dictatorship, and in the midst of a devastating economic crisis . The National Reorganization Process, as the junta was known, had killed thousands of Argentine citizens for their political opposition to the government . The era was known as the Dirty War, and has since been defined as "genocide" by an Argentine court . Many of the victims were simply "disappeared" without due process . </P> <P> The oppression of the Argentine people continued under a succession of dictators following a coup which deposed President Isabel Perón and put General Jorge Videla in power . He was succeeded by General Roberto Viola and then General Leopoldo Galtieri for a short while . Before he started the Falklands War, Galtieri was subject to growing opposition from the people . The actual dictatorship of General Galtieri lasted eighteen months, but he had already been a key player in the slaughter and oppression of his own people for years . In the course of 1981, Argentina saw inflation climb to over 600%, and GDP fall by 11.4%, manufacturing output by 22.9% and real wages by 19.2% . The trades unions were gaining more support for a general strike every day; popular opposition to the junta was growing rapidly . </P> <P> President Galtieri, as head of the junta, aimed to counter public concern over economic and human rights issues by means of a speedy victory over the Falklands which would appeal to popular nationalistic sentiment . Argentine intelligence officers had been working with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to help fund the Contras in Nicaragua, and the Argentine government believed it might be rewarded for this activity by non-interference on the part of the United States if it invaded the Falklands . The Argentine leadership had noticed that during the Suez crisis in 1956, the US had objected to the British use of force, that in 1981 the UK reached agreement with the former colony Rhodesia and that the 1961 Indian Annexation of Goa was initially condemned by the international community and then accepted as a fait accompli . (The planned Argentine invasion of the Falklands was even codenamed Operation Goa as it was believed that the annexation of the islands to Argentina would be similarly straightforward .) </P>

Who fired the first shot in the falklands