On our way down to Ushuaia, we spent one night in Rio Grande, on the north part of the island of Tierra del Fuego. It happened to be the first of April, on the eve of the anniversary of Argentina’s failed invasion of the Falkland Islands/Malvinas. So the following morning, we went to the act in homage of the anniversary.
I was twelve when this happened. I remember the morning when my father woke me up saying “Argentina recovered Malvinas”. I remember the telethons in support of the soldiers, the covers of Revista Gente insisting that “Estamos Ganando,” and I remember the blackout drills–we lived in a town on the coast, next to Argentina’s biggest navy base, and people were afraid the Brits would attack the continent.
Interestingly, most people in Argentina don’t think that invading the islands in 1982 was an incredibly stupid thing to do. Most believe that the islands have to be “returned.” Regardless of who has rights over what, the fact is that the British have had them since 1833, and that Argentina never had a lasting government there. People in the islands speak English and consider themselves British subjects. So it is hard for me to imagine what a best case scenario for Argentina’s claims could be. Kick out everybody and move people in from the mainland? Force the people there to become Argentine? Force them to become expats in the place where they were born? Any outcome seems worse than the status quo.
Still, many, if not most towns in Argentina have road signs like this:
Schoolchildren in Argentina are taught that the islands belong to them, that they were stolen by the Brits, and that Argentina will recover them. It’s a huge deal, and my opinion would be very unpopular here: imagine someone in the US saying that many causes the US armed forces fight for are not noble, and that the deaths of a soldier can be pointless. It is something like that.
Countries invading each other and taking territories is what mankind is all about. The fact is that no matter who is right and who is wrong, the most powerful side wins. In this conflict, Argentina is not that side. If my country were lead by people a little bit smarter, Argentina would have used its proximity to the islands to establish some sort of economic dependency. They could be building infrastructure, doing commerce, and shuttling tourists back and forth. You’d be able to buy Sancor dulce de leche and cheap Fernet Branca in Stanley, and the gas station would sell YPF gas. The way things are now, and the way they will most likely stay, flights to the islands happen from Chile, Argentine tourists are not accepted, and Argentina’s chances of profiting in any way from the Falklands are about exactly zero.
A bunch of people died in the war though, and the act in Rio Grande had its emotional times for me. Still, I find the whole thing a sad exercise in futility.
There is a “Marcha de las Malvinas” that every schoolchild memorizes and sings every April 2nd. Part of it says
Ni de aquellos horizontes
Nuestra enseña han de arrancar
Pues su blanco está en los montes
Y en su azul se tiñe el mar
From those horizons
Our ensign won’t be ripped either
As its white is on the hills
And the sea is tinted on its blue
Thanks to the Argentine actions of 1982, and the blood of the people who died there, the islands now have the red they were missing to form the Union Jack.
steph