Historic visit to the Falkland Islands to the cemetery in Darwin.
He went as planned by the Committee of Relatives of the Fallen in theMalvinas and South Atlantic Islands: The first contingent of 170 peoplehad the opportunity to visit the graves of their loved ones andparticipate in the inauguration of the Cenotaph in the town.
They arrived in a LAN flight that landed in Mount Pleasant, theBritish military base shortly after 9 am. He had previously dismissedCristina Kirchner in Rio Gallegos, one by one, waving to relatives. Theimmigration formalities were accelerated so that in 15 minutes everyonewas on the bus that would lead to the Argentine cemetery in Darwin.
Until then, they had to travel 40 kilometers on a gravel road.He could see the British police on two occasions by the roadside.
The order of the family, including the press, was to berespected as agreed in the bilateral meetings, which referred not tobreak the intimacy of the act itself.
Predominated among the 170 participants, the families of thevictims of the sinking of the cruiser General Belgrano, about 110people, most of which was the first time you could visit the FalklandIslands.
It happens that years ago, British authorities were not grantedpermission to arrive at the islands, alleging that they had lost theirlives in the territory. Times change behaviors. Yesterday, the weathercan be said that helped: It had snowed in the morning, but with thepassing of minutes, the temperature was located about 5 degrees and thewind whipping at 35 miles per hour. British Staff offered before theentrance of the cemetery a family additional shelter for those whowished it, his promise to return to the exit.
The bitter cold did not strike as much as the act of thinkinghow did the Argentine soldiers to fight, not October, but between Apriland June, when the weather is more oil-and without clothes or propernutrition. Increased the pain and grief of family members thought ofthe suffering that climate of their loved ones in battle.
Some were from Palpalá, as Silverio Quispe, father of CorporalAngel Quispe, who was the third time traveling to the Falklands. Alsofrom the table, as Delmira Hasenclever. His son, Julio Ruben Cao,teacher, was summoned to the Army in 1982. At the suggestion ofno-show, he replied: "How am I then to teach to students if I avoided acommitment to the Fatherland."
Time went too fast this morning. Contrary to 27 years ago,certainly. All relatives approached the 237 graves of which 101 wereidentified and the rest contained the legend "Argentine soldier knownonly to God."
At 14, he slowly began to return to Mount Pleasant. Two hoursafter he left the plane to Rio Gallegos with much pain and emotion inas quiet and repressed anger for what happened 27 years ago.
Negotiations up to height at withers
On 14 July 1999 in the last months of management in the Foreign DiTella, Argentina and the United Kingdom signed the agreement allowingthe creation of the monument opened the weekend.
Then came the twists and turns in the relationship. There was acondition imposed by islanders could not have symbols like the flag ofArgentina. There were also differences in the height of the cross,which is three meters: the islanders did not want to see from afar.
The businessman Eduardo Eurnekian, seeing on TV a documentaryabout the Falklands, became concerned about the delay and the state ofthe cemetery. The cenotaph came after nearly a week of sailing. Hemounted an English company (another barrier: it does not allow one inArgentina).
Everything was funded by the main shareholder of AeropuertosArgentina 2000 at a cost of a million and half dollars. The plane thatcarried the news on Saturday, too.
For the monument were used 200 tons of iron and was designed byarchitect Carlos Daprile. There are 24 granite plaques, eachsymbolizing the Argentine provinces, and has recorded the names of allthe fallen. Contains the caption: "The people of the Nation ofArgentina in memory of Argentine soldiers killed in action in 1982.