Operación 90 (Operation NINETY) was the first Argentine ground expedition to the South Pole, conducted in 1965, by ten soldiers of the Argentine Army under then-Colonel Jorge E. Leal. It was performed to attempt to cement Argentina's claims to a portion of Antarctica, as well as for scientific reasons and to perfect polar exploration techniques. The operation was named for the target 90 degree South latitude point (the South Pole).
The Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military activity in Antarctica.[1] To date, Operación 90 is the only documented military land manoeuvre on Antarctic territory.
Leal's team departed from General Belgrano Army Base on October 26, 1965, and reached the South Pole on December 10. They then returned to Base Belgrano, which they reached on December 31. Overall, the mission lasted 66 days.
The operation was performed in secret so as not to upset the superpowers of the time, the United States and Soviet Union. It had no real purpose except to exercise the claimed right of Argentina to the continuation of its landmass which (along with almost the entire Western Hemisphere including the US and Canada) had been proclaimed as a Spanish entitlement by Pope Alexander VI in 1493 through the Treaty of Tordesillas.
The only interesting occurrence of the operation, according to General Jorge E. Leal, was that the group encountered a radar operator from the United States who asked them who they were and what they were doing there. The group, after Leal explained that they were not Soviets, was invited to eat at the American sub-snow base—the first good food, said Leal, that the group had had in some weeks.