MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malvinas veterans protest in downtown Buenos Aires

Demanding compensation for past military services a group of some 30 Malvinas war veterans took the main offices in downtown Buenos Aires of the Argentine government agency managing health-care programs for pensioners.

The veterans claim the Argentine government had refused them "historic compensation" and blamed officials for the recent death of a veteran in the northern province of Chaco.

Protestors are demanding immediate payment of 250,000 pesos (approx. 85.000 US dollars) a piece in response to the government's announcement last March that it was considering cutting compensations.

Before occupying the building the group had unsuccessfully tried to overrun the security fences and police cordon in downtown Buenos Aires's Plaza de Mayo set up to protect Casa Rosada, the presidential palace.

Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez said it is impossible to meet the demands of the group, which he faults for failing to join the talks the government has been conducting for a year with most of the other veterans.

"We are not even telling them to lower that flag. We are saying it is impossible right now" Fernandez told local television. Paying 20,000 beneficiaries what the veterans are demanding would cost the government 1,7 million US dollars, he added.

Fernandez pointed out that President Nestor Kirchner's government has raised the veterans' monthly pension by 430 pesos (147 US dollars) to 1,170 pesos (400 US dollars), plus family allowances and school supplies.

Fernandez also underscored that the recent death of Falklands' veteran Juan Argentino Robledo was not due to lack of medical care, as the deceased's comrades allege, but because of "a pathology problem that could not be solved".