In the week in which the Argentine people commemorate the Day of the Veterans and Fallen of the Malvinas War, President Alberto Fernández announced that he will send three bills to Congress with measures to increase benefits for veterans and pointed out that “Argentine society still owes a very important debt to each of the men who participated in the conflict” of Malvinas.
He made this statement during a meeting he headed by videoconference from the Olivos residence, of the National Council of for Affairs Relative to the Malvinas, South Georgias, and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime and insular areas, in which he was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, Felipe Solá, and the Secretary of Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Daniel Filmus.
The president emphasized that “the Argentine society and the national State still owe a lot to those who fought and took part in that conflict in defense of Argentine interests and I believe that we must quickly move forward in putting those heroes in their rightful place and it is not enough to call them heroes, we must make life easier for them after what they had to go through and that is the obligation we have”.
In that direction, he stressed that “in that conflict many Argentines, 649, led down their lives, and every April 2 we must honor their memory, because they fought for the sovereignty of our land. They were men who heroically left everything there in very difficult situations”.
Fernández also emphasized that he does not want to “fail to mention each one of those who fought, to remember those who led down their lives there as true heroes and to also rescue the manhood and determination of many men who returned, who always left everything behind in the conflict they had to fight and take part in, they were soldiers and they were officers”.
The meeting was also attended virtually by the head of PAMI, Luana Volnovich; the Governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella; the director of the Malvinas Museum, Edgardo Esteban; the members of the Council that represent veterans –such as the former army chief Martín Balza-, the main political forces and academics, as well as other authorities and legislators.
The Head of State considered that “in all these years of democracy we always continue to remember April 2 as a day of homage to heroes and of remembrance of Argentina's sovereign rights”, and he also stated: “I want us to work hard so that Argentina everyday claims sovereign rights over those lands. The day we recover those islands, the lives that were lost there will definitely make sense”.
“I hope that this April 2, based on these bills, we can make the lives of our heroes better, make it easier for them to deal with the cost that facing war involves for any human being, give them the place they deserve in society, not only to call them heroes, but to make their lives easier”, said the Head of State.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Solá assured that “we pause in honor of those who lost their lives and the veterans who returned, in honor of their families, in honor of those who mourned them and those who received them and had to understand them, those who were physically, psychologically and spiritually injured, we are paying homage to all of them today”.
For his part, Filmus underlined that “Argentines feel very close every April 2. It is a day to remember, to honor, to pay homage, to admire those who fought bravely in the Malvinas Islands”. He also stressed “the double commitment of the President that keeps alive the claim to recover the exercise of sovereignty over the islands and advances in improvements for the veterans”.
The first bill that the President will send to Congress establishes the “Exception Pension Scheme, Special and Optional for the Granting of Retirement Benefits” intended for Armed Forces veteran conscript soldiers who participated in the actions as civilians. This initiative had already been voted unanimously in Congress on November 16, 2016, but was vetoed by then-President Mauricio Macri on December 12 of the same year.
The second initiative aims to revalue and institutionalize the National Program of Attention for the War Veteran, granting it the status of a national law. It was created by the need to guarantee the constitutional right to health, considering the pathologies undergone by those who have been in combat. This plan also provides medical and dental care to the family group.
The third project establishes a benefit of exemption from the payment of tolls on national routes and highways, intended for former conscript soldiers and civilians who have participated in the Malvinas Theater of Operations (TO) in effective combat actions.
The Council, headed by the President, was created by Law 27,558 passed unanimously on August 4, 2020, at the request of a project promoted by the Executive, and was formally constituted on November 6 of that year. Its objective is to work on the design of medium and long-term State policies to consolidate the exercise of sovereignty over that sector of the national territory.
