at least forty times oscar room thought of the same. But now, when the temperature in Rio Grande reaches three degrees below zero and the veteran’s eyes fill with tears, it seems that he is remembering it for the first time.: he talks about the hug his mom gave him, the first thing he did when he returned from the war, “after 74 days without speaking to her.” The testimony of the sailor who fought in the Islands is shocking but not unique. There are at least 300 stories that are the same or very similar, all standing in a salute position and with the uniform around them. It will be twelve o’clock at night on Friday, April 1 in Tierra del Fuego and the vigil for Malvinas is about to begin.
The act is the largest of all the tributes that are made in the country. It started in 1995 with a handful of ex-combatants who lived in the city -when veterans were still looked askance by a society that did not fully accept them- and today it moves crowds. In addition to the soldiers, there are thousands of people on Heroes de Malvinas Avenue, on the shore facing the Atlantic Ocean. “I came because today is a day of pride and honor, to honor the combatants,” says Juan, 19, who lives in the nearby town of San Sebastián. Like him, who on April 2, 1982 were far from being born, there are hundreds. Gabriela, 25, from Rio Grande do Sul, is not surprised. “It is that here, in Tierra del Fuego, Malvinas is part of us, of our history”.
Less striking is the case of those who were alive when the conflict began. They all remember. Jorge TaianaMinister of Defense, says that, detained by the dictatorship in the Rawson prison in Chubut, he calculated from the window of his cell how many Argentine planes went to the island and how many returned, following the war like someone who follows a soccer game listening to just the goals. Leander Santorodeputy, is very cool about the collections of clothing and materials that they organized in their elementary school in Boedo. Martin Perezthe local camp mayor, talks about the runs his parents made during the nights of the war, to turn off the lights in the house so, just in case, not to be an easy target for the English. Roger Frigerio he remembers his homonymous grandfather, who along with Arturo Frondizi was one of the few politicians who stood up against “Galtieri’s madness”, and who were criticized for that while the war lasted. On this cold and seamless night -there is also the Governor of Jujuy Gerardo Morales, the Secretary of Malvinas Guillermo Carmona, Senator Julio Cobos and Juan Paleo, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, among others- everyone thinks of Malvinas . “We all have to work to keep the cause alive, that is the best way to honor those who fought”, says the minister Daniel Filmuswhile the veterans settle on the stage and prepare to sing the national anthem.
At twelve o’clock at night, on the dot, a siren sounds that silences the city, the one that is closest to the mainland of the Islands. All eyes turn to the sea: 600 kilometers away, in some corner not so far away, The Malvinas are listening to her.
