Last week in Britain we had the parades, the flypasts and the media coverage of the 25th anniversary of the end of the Falklands conflict. But in Argentina there is a more sombre cast over the proceedings, one that was captured by a BBC radio documentary, Malvinas: The Open Wound.
To them, the Falklands (or Malvinas if you're Argentinean) conflict was 'our Vietnam'. On the Argentine side it was fought largely by teenage conscripts who were so badly and equipped that some of them reportedly died from the lack of cold weather gear rather than enemy action.
In the immediate aftermath of the disastrous conflict, the veterans were forbidden to speak about it. Some did not get recognition until the twentieth anniversary in 2002, when two thousand were awarded medals. Malvinas veterans have a high suicide rate (like their British counterparts) -- both sides claim that there have been more suicides than battlefield deaths.
Few Brits knew where the Falklands were before 1982, but the
Argentines certainly did. I was slightly surprised when visiting the country last year that the local road atlas included a page on the
Falklands. The map might be a bit hard to use as all the place names are Spanish – the inhabitant of Port Stanley might not realize that they're living in Puerto Argentino...
There have been close links between Britain and Argentina since the country was founded. In fact one of the landmarks in Buenos Aires is the Torre de los Ingleses-
The English Tower – built by British residents of the city using materials shipped from England. It celebrates the centenary of
Argentina's liberation from Spain.
These days more people visit a site immediately opposite the Tower:
the memorial to the Falklands war, with its guard of honour, eternal flame and the names of the fallen etched in marble. (And a number of plaques, including the one in the photo presumably showing the islands being pulled out of the grip of the British lion).
The current President, Nestor Kirchner, is strongly in favor of pressing Argentina's claim on the Falklands - but it's extremely unlikely that it will lead to a military conflict this time around.
Perhaps some lessons have been learned.
