The message of Argentine flags in the Malvinas – 13/03/2019

Among the permanent ways of regression followed by the adolescent country, Wednesday was marked by a shocking advance. This happened in the Malvinas Islands, far from Buenos Aires. An Argentinean flag was again extended to Darwin's cemetery. He was supported by a group of relatives of fallen soldiers in the 1982 conflict. Widows, brothers, daughters and children. Some smiled for relief that the situation gave them. Others cried because they had arrived after DNA tests determined that these fighters belonged to their families. War and death have floated in these fields so similar to neighboring Patagonia. But thirty-seven years have pbaded and things are starting to be very different.

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The last time an Argentine flag was discovered in Darwin Cemetery burned the open wounds of the war. It was in 2007, when hundreds of islanders and British soldiers had gathered in the Falklands to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a still fresh victory. Four Argentine ex-combatants from the city of La Matanza and a lawyer from Corrientes who had fought at Goose Green, a hill that descends from the white cross graves to one of the many inland lakes owning a hundred houses, also went to the islands. banks. They arrived on Sunday, April 2, deployed the blue and white cloth, sang the hymn kissed while looking towards San Carlos Bay and left a dozen plaques bearing the names of some of their fallen comrades . Nothing that sounds too offensive.

But the 74 days of war still resonated among the 2,500 inhabitants of the islands and the mere appearance of the enemy flag triggered the sleeping grudges. The exhibition of Argentine patriotic symbols was banned throughout the territory. Alerted by neighbors, an officer from the island police appeared in Darwin and took the plates of contention. The small incident triggered a crossroads of diplomatic declarations between Great Britain and the Argentine government of the time, chaired by Néstor Kirchner. There were charges crossing the Atlantic, a pair of vehement crossovers between Globe Tavern pub beers and a relaxing finale that relieved the majority. A few days later, the plaques were returned and the ex-combatants returned quietly to their home in Greater Buenos Aires to continue the duel.

Twelve years have pbaded from this flag deployed almost in secret. Years without government policy approved by the leaders of the islands. From the desmalvinización of Alfonsín to Menem's teddy bears and Chancellor Di Tella. And from there to the return to the diplomatic cold that continued with De la Rúa, Duhalde and with the Kirchner. While all this was happening, 122 bodies lay beneath Darwin's crowd with the legend "Soldier Known to God Only". Almost miraculously, a humanitarian project was launched in 2017 in which journalist Gabriela Cociffi, Argentine ex-fighter Julio Aro, and collaborator former British soldier Geoffrey Cardozo identified the victims of the war .

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The Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened; the Secretariat for Human Rights; the British Embbady, ​​the International Red Cross and, above all, the recognized forensic anthropology team. Many, along with funding from Corporación América (the group of companies led by Eduardo Eurnekian), have made progress in identifying dozens of soldiers whose families had no information or confirmation of where they died. This project is nearing completion. With the two bodies identified this week, there are already 112 soldiers who are named after their grave in the cemetery. There are only ten anonymous tombstones left.

On Wednesday, 39 parents of 22 soldiers arrived at the Falklands. This is the second trip, after the one that took place on March 26 of last year. And there is no way of describing how these women, these children, these brothers who find at least the consolation of knowing that under the hills and stones of Darwin are the remains of those who live in the country, can be described. they loved and lost know where to cry. They had embarked very early in Ezeiza and had landed at the Mount Pleasant military base, fortifying planes and missiles built by Britain after two and a half months of conflict.

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It was a warm morning, during which the sun sometimes made use of the ten degrees of temperature. Some were crowded near the crosses and others walked along the cenotaph with all the names of the 649 Argentine dead during the war. The sadness deepens with the "Lamentos" chords that two Scottish bagpipes sang with respect. The nostalgia was followed by a mbad shared by an Argentine and British priest, then by the fence with the trumpet of the veteran Omar Tabárez, who closed the ceremony with the notes of "Silencio militar". In the afternoon, relatives of the soldiers started walking towards the buses that would take them back to Mount Pleasant to board the plane that would finally bring them back to the mainland that they had left early in the morning.

One person in charge, the human rights secretary, Claudio Avruj, accompanied the parents to the Darwin cemetery. And another official, Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, received them at Ezeiza airport. But the highlight, without a doubt, was the final photo with the Argentine flag of all those who lost someone too close to the Malvinas Islands. This time, there was no tension, no diplomatic reproach, no police procedures. Island leaders left quietly and let the families cope with their pain in peace.

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It is possible that the rapprochement between the current inhabitants of the Malvinas and the families of those who died fighting is the beginning of something. It is difficult to find a gap between the Argentine claim and irrevocable sovereignty and the military power that Britain built after the war.

But the continuity of flights. Cruises more and more frequent. Satellite communications. The identity of the dead These are all trails that help us get closer to the islands. Families, officials and journalists took only two and a half hours to reach their destination as the trips were made directly. No stops in Río Gallegos or in any Chilean city. A sigh in a straight line on the Atlantic Ocean. This faster and perhaps more successful route that Argentine diplomacy has not been able to find for thirty-seven years.