He received the letter from his dead son in Malvinas, 37 years later – ElSol.com.ar – Diario de Mendoza, Argentina

After 37 years, Manuela Roldán (77) received a letter from her son who died during the Falklands War. Jorge Ludueña, born in Las Varillas, in the city of Córdoba, died at age 18 after eating food in poor condition.

On the last anniversary of the war, Manuela found part of Jorge: the children of a naval officer who had been looking for her for many years had followed her father's objective and the Had finally found it. They went from Santo Tomé (Santa Fe) to Cordoba and knocked on the door of his house in Las Varillas.

In the hands of Héctor Wilfredo Gaete was an envelope for "Manuela Ludueña". Inside, a handwritten letter from Jorge, written 37 years ago when he was cut off in the Falklands, with a pulse of cold and hunger, in which he tells them that everything will be fine and that he will return to town soon. Almost four decades later, Manuela received the message.

"Dear Parents: I write these lines to tell you that I'm fine and that you know where I am and that you do not have problems, because nothing will happen, begging God. These lines are to tell you that it is very cold here and that food is scarce and I hope it will end soon so that you are calmer. I tell you that last month, they paid us the salary and everyone has earned 20 million and they pay all the ends of the month. But send me the sweater and a pair of socks because we will leave the license, every weekend if we leave it, " says the first paragraph of the letter, dedicated to his parents.

Manuela found her son's handwriting, with a part of him who had been waiting for her. "It's like we're reliving, and having the letter is part of it with me, these are very strong moments that have happened." When they told me that they were going to bring me a letter from her, I worried, I thought what he would say, I would talk to him. his father, who no longer has him, his grandparents, I felt very sad, very sad, I still could not get it out of my head, it's like reliving the day when I was told his death ", says Jorge's mother to Infobae.

The woman is moved to remember May 20, 1982, when the village commissioner told her the bad news. "FuThe saddest day of my life, I wanted to hit the curator, " account, and recognizes that a universe of reality has fallen on this news. "I did not magnify the war, I was thinking of going back, I did not understand what was happening, I thought what the TV and the newspapers had said, everything was fine," he admits.

But not everything was going well. Jorge, who at the end of high school decided to go to work in a workshop until he was interrupted to do his military service in February 1982, was sent to do the Colimba in Comodoro. Rivadavia. When the war broke out, virtually uneducated, he was sent to fight the islands against the British Army.

There he was hungry and cold, a tragic story we all know. "The food is scarce," he says to his parents in the letter, as well as to his sister Estela, in another part of the text. Jorge did not die in combat. He lost his life to eat food in bad condition. He, who at 15, had contracted hepatitis, could not stay up and died.

The letter was part of his business and was kept by the first master of the navy, Miguel Ángel Gaete. The man kept the letter with the hope that someday he could give it to his recipients. Pehe never found them. "He always wanted to give it to him, but he did not want to do it by mail because he feared it would come." His son Héctor told him, responsible for finally taking him to Las Varillas, Manuela.

The ease afforded by social networks and the contact of a nephew of Manuela with veterans spurred the meeting, four years after the death of Miguel Angel Gaete. The officer's children read the letter, a little uncomfortable because of the indiscretion, in order to find the key names to locate the family. And so it is: Manuela, Estela and Marita are still alive. Beto, Marita's father and Jorge's goddaughter also died, as did the grandparents of Private Las Varillas.
Héctor Gaete posted these names on Facebook and sent it to Marita's cousin, who warned them. Once again, a commissioner announced a news to the family, but this time it is not so tragic. "Will Aunt read a letter from Jorge?" Asked the cousin to Mara. And so the contact was armed.

"I did not know if the letter was true, when they say that he names the family, we think" it's true. "I feel very sad and a little happy because I have something that he touched, that he had in his hands," recalls Manuela and thinks about Gaete. . "He was with my son but I do not know, no one knows if he was a doctor or a chef, the kids say he was with my son, but he does not know it well.

One of the problems that worries Manuela is that she does not know how long her son has suffered because the letter is undated. "It's a lot of emotion, the letter is so well written, as this letter makes me think where he would write for me, for his father, who died ten years after the war, for his uncles and niece, "he says.

In a fragment of the letter, Jorge asks his sister to take care of "Marita", now 40 years old and very excited when he thinks of his uncle. "I was 3 years old, he carried me in his arms for two sides, but I have no memory, only what they said, this letter is a way to reconnect with him, "he told Infobae, with an effort not to cry, but not to get

"Dear sister, I am writing these lines to tell you that I am well and that you are not afraid of what is happening, hope that it will be settled soon so that they are quieter . Estela sends me at least one letter, let her write that she has not written in a long time. Whenever I receive letters, I wait for one of you and, when they do not send me, I am sad. Estela as you walk with the Beto, you hear well or walk towards the kicks and the Marita like this big, pointed does not surprise me. You know that I miss Marita, there are soldiers who miss her little brothers and I told her that I had a niece. Good evening without saying anything more than to greet Beto and kisses to Marita and your sister chau ", andWrite Jorge in the second paragraph.

"It makes me cry with joy, you can not believe that despite the distance and what she lived, she remembered everyone, I was her only niece, the first, and I lived with them there, at home, because my mother lived with my grandmother raised me When my uncle arrived, she was naughty for a long time.He raised me and, d & # 39; one way or another, has occupied Jorge's space, "says Mara.
"He was Marita's godfather, she cries like me, she always cried for her uncle, and in the tributes she came behind me, he was his godfather, and he was still holding her in his arms, he was Took her bike, "says her mother.

Something worried Mara and Manuela. Jorge needs to receive a letter from him in these days of cold, desolation, fighting and hunger that occurred in Malvinas.

The mother of the soldier of Las Varillas told Infobae that she had gone to Comodoro Rivadavia to give her clothes and chocolates and that she had not let her go to Barracks. He never saw his son again since the embrace of February 1982. And he did not write a letter because he thought his son would come back soon. "I did not give him the magnitude," he repeats.
"For me, the letter was not written by the patient, he wrote it shortly after my arrival, I think it was still good," says Mara, who could not to stop thinking about the last days of her uncle's life, while she was dying of an illness They do not know what it was.

I was surprised that he was waiting for news from the family. He was waiting and he never received anything. My grandmother did not see the size of what it was. She thought I would go back there. I say what a shame because everyone received something. It's very sad to die without anyone's news. "Mara is delighted and quickly finds consolation:" This letter was to arrive and arrive, fortunately my grandmother is alive, lucid and can enjoy this moment. "

Manuela's voice breaks when she evokes her son. He says that he reads the letter every day. "I always read it and I'm going to take a picture to keep it in view," he projects tenderly.

Part of your child's letter touches the mother more than any other. "I love the place where he talks about Marita and says" Dad, Mom, stay calm, "he reveals. Manuela remains silent, as if trying to remove the dagger stuck forever in her heart, then throwing a thought that resembled a wish or an umbilical link: "I read the letter and see it in Jorgito, and I get an idea that is good ".