Internal fighting and desolation due to defeat: how the Malvinas war was lived at Casa Rosada

Víctor Bugge He was only 26 years old when the Malvinas war broke out. He had entered as official photographer of Casa Rosada in 1978 and everything he remembers from those days of war, a conflict inside the government palace is like a horrible nightmare. it weighs heavily in his memory and mixes with his recent trips to the islands with the relatives of fallen soldiers.

"Everything was treated with the utmost secrecy in the days leading up to the war, and on April 2, it was a surprise for me, after many years of walking through the corridors of Casa Rosada, we understand what can so it was very surprising to many, "recalls Bugge on April 2 in which the military junta led by the de facto president Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri declared war on Britain in the Falklands.

The "surprise effect" imposed by the army before the announcement of the war and evoked by the photographer Casa Rosada is related to the days preceding April 2. Bugge remembers very well that On March 30, the Plaza de Mayo experienced a fierce repression due to the march of multiparty politics. summoned by all the political parties that demanded the return of democracy. Nobody thought that in this context a war would be declared and even less that Galtieri would occupy the place on which he would be acclaimed a few days later.

"It was one of the most violent repressions on the Plaza, and a few days later, even with the tear gas we felt in the face, Galtieri could see the Plaza filling up with its balcony," Bugge said. during a long conversation with Infobae from the office that continues today to occupy the second floor of Casa Rosada.

Many years have pbaded, presidents, crises, resignations, violence and Bugge remember this balcony of Galtieri as if only a few days had pbaded.

In the photo taken by Bugge on April 2, Galtieri is seen lifting his hand from the balcony before a Plaza de Mayo overflowed by the crowd. You can see the flags and posters that say "Thank you" or "First Homeland".

37 years later, Bugge recalls: "The most terrible thing was that on March 30, there was a fierce crackdown and that two days later, the Plaza was full of people applauding." And he adds: "It seems to Galtieri that this balcony blinded him, that the balcony of Perón, as I call it, is terrible."

"It's hard to realize that a square is not your place when you're on the balcony, when you think of being the owner, it's over," said the presidential photographer . Galtieri appears alone on the balcony. But Bugge remembers that behind him were his naval aides and the air force.

On April 10, 1982, there was another complete square. Another place that has helped to inflate Galtieri's ego. It was the same day as the US Chancellor Alexander Haig He met the de facto president to begin a long series of unsuccessful attempts to find a peaceful solution between Britain and Argentina.

"Galtieri goes out on the balcony a few minutes before the meeting with Haig." After the meeting, Galtieri proposed to go out together, but Haig said no, "remembers Bugge, who was present.

He then saw Ronald Reagan's envoy leave the Casa Rosada from the helicopter installed on the deck. Haig was booed all over the place. "Galtieri went out again on the balcony and this one blinded him a little more, to him and to the whole administrative structure of the army while the boys were fighting in the Falklands," says Bugge.

Internal and power struggles

There is another historical photograph that Bugge took in the middle of those days of war. This is the one that shows Galtieri with a drink in his hand, smiling at someone who does not appear in the photo. The de facto president is euphoric. Back appears Jorge Rafael Videla and Roberto Viola also with glbades in hand.

– There was no internal power or power power visible in the Casa Rosada at the time? Infobae asked Bugge.

There was a difference between the forces.

– The photo of euphoric Galtieri holding a drink in his hand and behind Videla and Viola appears the idea of ​​drunkenness of power that the de facto president had …

The mug itself did not add much to the picture, I think. Everyone has what they want. I describe the drunkenness of power when you walk on the carpet and you think you own this carpet. It is there that you are dizzy. A little what happened to the balcony. This blindness with power is what happened in Galtieri.

There is another unpublished photograph that Bugge offered to publish in Infobae. We can see Galtieri speaking with Chancellor of the dictatorship Nicanor Costa Méndez. On the table, there is a map of the Malvinas Islands, ink pens, Galtieri glbades, a pack of cigarettes and the clock that the dictator had removed for a few moments. We see Galtieri distended, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up and smoking

Costa Mendez seems more tense and it's understandable: diplomatic negotiations with Britain to end the war have been wrecked and the US mediation has not advanced. This is reflected in the harsh face of the Chancellor of the dictatorship who came and went from Buenos Aires to New York to meet with his British counterparts at the UN headquarters.

The arrival of John Paul II

On June 11, 1982, Pope John Paul II arrived in Argentina with the firm mission of stopping the Falklands war. He met Galtieri alone at Casa Rosada, offered a Mbad at the Spanish Monument and asked for peace.

Four days after this historic visit, June 15, Galtieri, as head of the military junta, announced on a national channel the negotiation between the "governor" of the Falklands, Mario Benjamín Menéndez and the British chief of troops signed. a day before. Galtieri did not use the word capitulation and talked about the withdrawal of Argentine troops from Puerto Argentino.

"Historically, little has been saved from John Paul II's visit to Casa Rosada, but his presence here was impressive. With this visit, he channeled people of despair and faith at the same time ", says Bugge 37.

– Do you think that Galtieri really received the message of peace from John Paul II or that he decided to surrender because he had no tactical-military alternative?

"I can not say whether the pope's message has reached Galtieri or not." It is hard not to be moved by the figure of the Pope and John Paul II was the most important leader of humanity. His presence with civilians was very important. I do not know if for this meeting.

In the photo, we see John Paul II standing in one of the rooms of Casa Rosada and Galtieri sitting opening a gift offered by the military junta to the pope. The de facto president smiles openly while the Sovereign Pontiff seems ill at ease with this smile and this portrait. As if I had preferred to avoid this picture.

The Pope's visit had a significant effect on the population and became a deep pressure for the military junta. "The presence of John Paul II was a relief for a society in distress, which received information which we later learned that it was not real, there were two wars: one lived in the islands and the one we lived in "said Bugge.

In fact, this was another of the battles inside the Casa Rosada during the war: the offer for information.

Bugge depicted an image of the television that was in one of the army offices. He sees the government's star reporter, José Gómez Fuentes, talk about the war on the Channel 7 news channel on official television.

"In the hallways, I received comments that we won and others that we lost, I always believed what they said officially, I was one of those who believed everything, I did not know if it was because of anxiety, but a few days after the presence of John Paul II, I began to perceive some confusion, "remembers Bugge .

On June 14, the capitulation to the British Army in Puerto Argentino was confirmed at Casa Rosada. There was a climate of desolation and Bugge remembers perfectly a picture: "The night after the surrender, I had the information that the announcement would be made from the balconies, but in the square there was a Impressive repression … and the climate was great, Casa Rosada had been emptied, "says the official photographer. Later, we knew that there was no place for this announcement and that Galtieri was sorry in his office.

There is a photo of Bugge in which Galtieri is seen after the surrender. He is dressed in military fajina and looks down, his head almost as apologetic to his subordinates who are on the back. They had returned from the battlefield defeated.

The most terrible image Víctor Bugge can remember is the day after the announcement of the surrender.

"Galtieri was in his office, I took the last picture of him, he looked at the picture of San Martín who was next to him and said," This one did not shit. "He put on his poncho and left, we were alone, with an badistant and an edecan, when I heard what Galtieri said to the San Martín painting and that he said," You did not shit, "I said to myself," it's over. " And really Galtieri was finished. Then come the preparations for his departure and begin to glimpse the return of the long-awaited democracy.

Years later, Bugge went to the Malvinas. It was when he accompanied, again as the official photographer of Casa Rosada, a group of mothers of soldiers who fell in the war and whose bodies were identified by the International Red Cross Scientific Police Team. .

In the photo, you can see the Bugge selfie with the Darwin cemetery crosses behind. That day, the photographer Casa Rosada cried a long time. It was like a relief after so many years of anxiety.

"I think I'm the only one, I say it for emotion not for the ego, the only one who could represent this April 2nd and one of the few to represent the loved ones of the soldiers 30 years later, "said Bugge.

"I do not think many people have made this trip, I'm mixing things up." On April 2, it came to my head in the Darwin cemetery, because the square was the place that supported the Children the other day we went to visit Darwin's graveyard, which is very loud, I cried in his graves, which stuck the story in a terrible way and difficult to solve, j & # 39; I felt the Plaza de Mayo in the cemetery from the balcony. ", recalls today from his office.

It is difficult to explain all this to someone who has experienced it closely. And it was the privileged protagonist of the story. And an Argentinian who felt pain and helplessness for the fallen soldiers in the Malvinas Islands.