Honoring those who fought in Malvinas requires recognizing them, supporting them from the State and deepening the work to regain the exercise of sovereignty
By Daniel Filmus, Secretary of Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic - Opinion article published in the newspaper Perfil.com
Today, April 2, as every year, Argentines pay tribute to the compatriots who fought bravely for the recovery of the exercise of our sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands. We remember and honor them with pride, both those who fell in combat and those who returned home with the indelible scars of war, and we embrace all their families.
However, the best tribute that can be paid to them is to commit ourselves to continue working, peacefully and with the tools provided by law and international diplomacy, for the ideals for which many of them led down their lives. And also, to move beyond words, this tribute must imply the commitment to place all the capacity of the State to recognize their situation and the consequences they suffer and therefore, meet their needs and demands.
We must say that the recognition and attention to veterans did not have the same importance for all governments. The goal of "demalvinizing" and forgetting the heroic role played by our youth began as soon as the war ended. We cannot fail to remember that when they returned to the continent and before coming back home they had to sign a note in which they assumed the commitment not to tell what they had experienced in combat. But also since the recovery of democracy there were long periods in which the governments preferred to forget and not give the well-deserved popular recognition to the veterans. One of the last attempts to devalue the tribute to the fallen and the veterans was the decision of the previous government, through decree 52/17, to allow the holiday of April 2 (as well as March 24) could be “moved” to another date for tourism purposes. The enormous resistance of society to this measure forced the government to back down and it was unable to implement it.
Reviewing the progress made in the recognition of veterans, it should be noted that towards the end of the government of Raúl Alfonsín, this task began to be dealt with through the first pension for those who fought in the Islands. This support was complemented with the incorporation of health services during the government of Carlos Menem. But it was not until 2003 that the main step was taken in relation to granting assistance and accompaniment from the State both to the former conscript soldiers that fought in Malvinas and to the civilians who participated in the South Atlantic Conflict.
Although this series of measures implied an improvement in the situation of veterans, it is imperative to continue deepening that line of memory, support and containment of our compatriots, many of whom continue to suffer physical and psychological effects.
For that reason, Alberto Fernández just announced before the Malvinas Council that new projects will be promoted to continue supporting those who defended our territory. The first, a bill to establish the “Exception Pension Scheme, Special and Optional for the Granting of Retirement Benefits” intended for Armed Forces veteran conscript soldiers who have participated in the military actions developed between April 2 and on June 14, 1982. Another project seeks to revalue the National Program of Attention for the War Veteran, granting it the status of a national law to guarantee forever the constitutional right to health of veterans and their families. And finally, the President sent a bill to the Congress of the Nation to grant conscripts and civilians summoned to the conflict of 1982, a benefit of exemption from paying tolls on national routes and highways.
Nothing will be enough to compensate for the moments lived and suffered in the conflict. But we must provide our veterans with containment, understanding and support to help ease the harsh consequences left by the war.
But our main claim towards the veterans is the firm commitment to continue working permanently to fulfill the ideals for which they fought. There are deep roots that allow to lay the foundations for the construction of State policies regarding the Malvinas Cause. The most important is the certainty and unanimous sentiment of our people, beyond social, regional or party differences, regarding the justice of our claim.
Many of our great historical leaders from different perspectives, placed the Malvinas Cause as a permanent demand and acted accordingly. Roca, Yrigoyen, Palacios, Perón, Illia, Alfonsín and Kirchner have been some of them. The interventions by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Atilio Bramuglia at the Ninth International Conference in Bogotá in 1948 and the already famous speech of José María Ruda at the United Nations in 1965 are good examples of the unanimity of opinion with which Argentina supported the claim that our ambassador in London Manuel Moreno -Mariano's brother- had initiated in 1833.
The consensus on UN Resolution 2065 in 1965, the inclusion of the claim for Malvinas as the First Transitory Provision of our National Constitution in 1994, the unanimous vote in both Chambers of the National Congress of the Declaration of Ushuaia in 2012 and the recent approval, also unanimously, of Law 27,558, which creates in a plural and multidisciplinary way the National Council of Affairs Relative to the Malvinas, and of Law 27,557, which demarcates the limit of the Argentine Continental Shelf, are some of the examples of the ability that Argentines have to achieve common views concerning national objectives. It is now necessary that the consensus also extends towards the agreement of mechanisms that allow us to defend our renewable and non-renewable resources in the South Atlantic. Reasons for the British usurpation and the huge military base that continues to threaten the Region from the Malvinas Islands.
I want to particularly highlight the creation and the set in motion of the National Advisory Commission on the Malvinas Cause, which is made up of the main political forces of the National Congress, renowned academics and jurists, the government of the Province of Tierra del Fuego and representatives of the veterans. This broad composition provides an adequate environment to build agreements that allow for sustained and coherent policies to be carried out over time that strengthen the Argentine claim. At the same time, this Council must become a guarantee that the Malvinas Cause will not be used to settle internal political issues.
The growing consensus reached in multilateral organizations about the need to comply with UN resolutions, the formation of an international scenario where the multipolar perspective is consolidated, the consequences of Brexit and the permanent solidarity of the countries of the region and of the 133 developing nations that compose the G77 plus China are some of the situations that currently generate favorable conditions to deepen our claim.
Aware that it will be necessary to work intensively, with open-mindedness and generosity, we are convinced that we can build policies of agreement that represent the national majorities. The justice of the Malvinas Cause, the depth of sentiment that nests in the heart of our people and the firm commitment to honor the memory of those who fought for our sovereignty, will allow us to move forward consistently in that direction and make our flag rise again in the Islands.
