MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malvinas' sovereignty: “indeclinable objective”

“Recovering sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands is an indeclinable objective of all Argentina and particularly for this administration”, said this Monday Argentine Defence Minister Jose Pampuro during the ceremony to honour the 323 dead when the sinking of the battleship “General Belgrano” by a Royal Navy nuclear submarine May 2nd, 1982.

But, he added "this will be achieved by peaceful means and in the framework of United Nations negotiations".

Mr. Pampuro together with the Commander of the Navy Admiral Jorge Godoy, Commander of the Coast Guard Carlos Fernández, military officers, legislators, Malvinas veterans and relatives of the servicemen killed during the 1982 South Atlantic conflict participated in the ceremony held in the Argentine Navy main building, Edificio Libertad in Buenos Aires.

"As we said last Saturday in Paraná to commemorate the fire baptism of the Argentine Air Force, we are here today to renew testimony of an event that is so important for the Navy and for the whole society", emphasized Mr. Pampuro.

Towards the end of the ceremony, Mr. Pampuro said that honouring the heroes of the battleship "General Belgrano" has "the explicit and permanent homage of all the Argentine citizenship towards this gest". "Unfortunately we lost in the battlefield, but spiritually, in fortitude and in the continuation of Argentine traditions it will be for ever engraved", stressed Minister Pampuro.

Admiral Jorge Godoy in the official Navy message promised to keep "alive the flame" represented by the "hero seamen of Malvinas".

"General Belgrano" was sunk by two torpedoes from HMS Conqueror May 2 of 1982 during the South Atlantic conflict that began April 2 with the landing of Argentine marines in the Falklands and ended when the Argentine command surrendered June 14th.