ARGENTINA: On the eve of Falklands War anniversary, Argentines remember their war dead.

Record ID: 360042

  • Title: ARGENTINA: On the eve of Falklands War anniversary, Argentines remember their war dead.
  • Date: 3rd April 2012
  • Summary: USHUAIA, PROVINCE TIERRA DEL FUEGO, ARGENTINA (APRIL 1, 2012) (REUTERS) ARGENTINE FLAG, BROKEN BY WIND MONUMENT TO THE 'MALVINAS' (FALKLANDS) (GOOD SHOT) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE VISITING MONUMENT IN HONOUR OF WAR DEAD FALKLAND WAR VETERANS
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina, Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA8LENH8R269EYJWZ3L3O2THGG
  • Story Text: On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, Argentine veterans remember the fallen.
    On Sunday (April 1), the eve of the 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands War, Argentine veterans remembered those who died trying to claim sovereignty over the South Atlantic islands.

    In the breezy southern port town of Ushuaia, veterans and tourists visited the Monument to the Malvinas, which Argentines call the Falklands.

    Alejandro Cano was among those who fought in 1982 for the islands some 300 miles (480 kms) off the coast of Argentina.

    He said returning to the area from where they launched the attack, he could remember what he felt as a young man.

    "To be here in the south, it's a different sensation. It's like you feel more Argentine and it reminds you of somethings that we felt at that time like the climate and the people. The people here are marvellous because they feel for themselves what I lived through," he said.

    Argentina's ruling military junta invaded the Falklands on April 2, 1982. Britain sent a naval task force and recaptured the islands after a 10-week war, with the loss of 255 British and 650 Argentine lives.

    Veteran Carlos Sanchez said he still felt passionately about the issue.

    "We've never stopped fighting for the Malvinas (Falklands). Like my comrades said, we are here today to pay honour to the true heroes, those who were left behind (the dead) and whose names are on the cenotaph, the 649 fallen and we want to defend their memory day after day," he said.

    Thirty years after Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falklands, relations are at their chilliest in years as Buenos Aires launches a multi-pronged diplomatic offensive to assert its claim over the islands.

    The discovery of offshore oil has fuelled the row.

    Argentina had threatened legal action against British and U.S. banks that gave advice to or even wrote research reports about companies involved in the Falklands oil sector.

    Buenos Aires has won support from regional bodies, and the Latin American trading bloc Mercosur has banned port visits by Falklands-flagged ships.

    While a new military conflict is seen as highly unlikely, the dispute could jeopardise Britain's drive for closer economic and trade ties with emerging Latin America powers such as Brazil that it hopes will kickstart the stagnating British economy.
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