The discovery of a drawing that allows us to spy on life in the trenches of the Falklands

The Malvinas Islands are the heart of the Argentine homeland.

There is a pain in the chest that since 1982 has not dissipated. It is impossible not to remember all that this nation has experienced with the Falklands war: the young soldiers, the sinking of Belgrano, all those who were killed in action, those who committed suicide later, families looking for their children, ex-combatants demanding recognition of their work. Each year, the stories come back, stronger and more moving, but new ones appear, because this war does not seem to have ended.

It was the month of December 2018, just four months ago. Two Argentines have decided to go to the islands. Carlos Maslatón I was already gone in 2005, but her friend Gisela Candarle no So they decided to make this trip together. They did not know what they were going to find. They did not even imagine the possibility of a transcendent discovery.

During the six days they spent there, they walked and visited everything they could. They reached Mount Tumbledown, a site of great resistance of the Argentine forces, where the final battle took place on the night of 13 to 14 June 1982. It is very famous for the characteristics of the Argentine fight and for its two remains of kitchens in the field. of the Marine Infantry Battalion 5.

Two years ago, residents discovered a new bunker on the west side. Being so recent, a circuit had not been made to travel. In any case, they entered.

Ammunition, pieces of clothing, shoes, that sort of thing. Suddenly, Gisela moved a stone and found a magazine underneath. A cartoon "We took 4 or 5 photos and left them there out of respect," said Maslatón. It did not hit them, the story kept turning in their heads. Then, the next day, they came back.

"I asked the Falklands to accompany us and I wondered who the soldier was reading here, would he have survived or fallen in combat?" I asked to take the magazine because It was very important to me and that they only allowed us to take three pages, "Candarle added. .

What was this caricature? The title is ZEBRA Polar Station, and it came out in issue 136, printed in February 1970 by Editorial Columba, of the Fantasy Magazine. The vignettes were drawn by the illustrator Gerardo Canelo. The Argentineans who discovered it decided to donate their discovery to the Malvinas Museum and to the South Atlantic islands, which have been part of the new temporary exhibition since April 2nd. Cartoon found in a bunker.

"We are two friends who decided to visit the Malvinas at the end of 2018. The trip lasted 24 hours, starting from Buenos Aires, then Santiago de Chile and Punta Arenas, until we reached Mount Pleasant, the islands airport. back, heart filled with emotions, "said Candarle.

"When you're in the Malvinas," Maslatón added, "and visit the battlefields, imagine what it might have been, think of those souls, those 300 Argentinian soldiers in Tumbledown, when we visited Gisela, we visited a trench. When she moved a rock, she found it in a magazine that was the starting point until the exhibition reached that exposure and that already constitutes the only one. legacy of all Argentines ".

At the inauguration was the Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology of the nation, Alejandro Finocchiarowho said that "veterans, and especially those who have been enlisted, do not want them to be remembered as frightened children, they want to be remembered for that." that they were, soldiers, they fought and fought with courage, so I want to remember them, with this courage.Honor and eternal glory for our Malvinian soldiers. "

The secretary of culture of the nation was also present, Pablo Avelluto. "When we see the remains of the cartoon in this exhibition, we can imagine the cold, the loneliness and the expectation with this magazine in our hands." In those leaves that have remained hidden for so many years, waiting for an attack, an attack to have to run at dawn to meet an enemy or with death For these turning points of destiny, these pieces of paper have arrived in this museum, "he said.

Now this tiny and intimate story has ceased to be lost in the past and hidden under a rock. This story is yet another memory of the immense, painful and heroic memory of the Falklands.

* Cartoon found in a bunker
Malvinas Museum and the islands of the South Atlantic
From Wednesday to Friday from 9h to 17h
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 11h to 19h
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