MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
My experience of the Falklands.
The massive, daunting military complex at Mount Pleasant Airbase (MPA), the only commercial airport on the Falkland Islands, leaves you feeling anything but indifferent upon arrival. Either you feel it is a fortress to defend the Islanders' freedom, or a total waste of taxpayers' money given the current state of the castrated Argentine military.
A few years back, the number of military personnel reached 2,000, creating a 1:1 military to civilian ratio. So what do the Islanders or "Kelpers" think of all this?
"Officially, we are still at war", remarked an RAF serviceman over a beer at Stanley's famous Globe Tavern. "If the Argentines invade again, this time we are overstretched with the war in Iraq."
I assured him the threat was nil. But there is growing unease among the Islanders due to the aggressive rhetoric of President Kirchner and his Foreign Minister Bielsa. Not since Galtieri have relations with the mainland been so poor. The local weekly newspaper, the Penguin News reports every controversial remark the Argentine government make over the Malvinas, from Kirchner's cancellation of Chilean charter flights to Bielsa's claim that if Argentina has to wait 400 years, she will pursue her goal of recapturing the islands.
Ironically, up until Kirchner's presidency, a growing number of Kelpers were beginning to contemplate both a direct flight from Buenos Aires and maybe even Dual Sovereignty, according to 43-year-old Julie Clark, the manager of the Globe Tavern. Kirchner is seen as having set back progress and trust by as much as 15 years.
And meanwhile, Kirchner's comments have served to foster the friendship between the Falklands and Chile, much to his irritation.
"Good people, the Chileans", quipped 64-year-old Stanley resident Rose Ferguson. The Chilean flag is pinned to the ceiling of the Globe Tavern next to the British, Welsh and Falklands flags. A good number of Chileans live and work in Stanley too, and Chile is the primary holiday destination for the affluent Kelpers.
However, Argentines are far from unwelcome on the Islands. Not one Kelper reacted negatively to my nationality, although with certain intrigue when I revealed that I was British-born and educated.
"That's just typical of the Argentine press, you see", Patrick Watts told me at the oddly named Malvina House Hotel, when I unmasked my identity. "Clarín creates those myths that Argentines are unwelcome and treated badly". Watts received an M.B.E. from the Queen on account of his bravery in the early days of the Argentine Occupation in 1982.
He worked for the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station for some 40 years, and also wrote for the British Daily Telegraph. Now an independent tour guide, he took me to Goose Green with a young Argentine couple from BA and an attractive Mexican, all from the cruise ship Royal Princess.
En-route, Watts pointed out the extensive and numerous Argentine minefields. All 18,000 mines are there to stay because they are plastic and undetectable. He also pointed out the mountains that overlook Stanley where the last battles were fought out in 1982.
At Goose Green, Watts took us to the simple but poignant Argentine cemetery, filled with 250 plain white crosses and a larger one at the back. The experience was moving. The next-of-kin had randomly chosen crosses for their unidentified loved ones. Lots of Jujeños and Tucumanos were among the dead.
After a picnic on the beach, where the sun shone fiercely and Upland Geese and Cormorants flew nearby, Watts took us to scattered remains of an Argentine Air Force Skyhawk. Its pilot was Fausto Gavazzi, who suffered the misfortune of being shot down by his own side after bombing the HMS Glasgow minutes earlier. He died instantly.
The British may be there now and there to stay. Every UK government since Thatcher has regarded the wishes of the Kelpers as paramount in any sovereignty talks with Argentina. Unlike Rhodesia in the 1970s, there is no native majority begging for independence. Au contraire. They enjoy their status as a British Dependency and Associate Member of the EU.
But the problems lie outside the obvious. One has to analyze the Falklands from 3 dimensions: Argentine, British, and Kelper. Eugenio Diaz-Jausoro, a 28-year-old Argentine lawyer from BA, made the following comparison: "Of course everyone is British here. But why are they British? Because the Argentines [however few at the time] were expelled and the British were transplanted here to secure the islands. It's like France kicking out the Argentines from Tierra del Fuego and putting French people there instead. Yes, then of course it becomes French."
It was an eloquent clarification of Britain's presence on the Falklands being both artificial and de facto. Argentina will always claim de jure sovereignty and has every right to, historically and geographically. But unfortunately, 170 years is more than the average age of today's nations. Something went wrong back in the 1830s. But in this day and age, two wrongs do not make a right. The lesson for Argentina, loser of the 1982 war, is now to live and let live, and hopefully to befriend what is ultimately a quaint and affluent remnant of a once massive empire, to which Argentina, as Sir Malcolm Robertson hinted back in 1929, in all but name once belonged.
Max Gainza - Buenos Aires Herald
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