MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Joint tribute to Falklands' conflict fallen

Argentine Malvinas veterans and a party from the Royal Navy Ice Patrol HMS Endurance jointly participated in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, in a simple but emotive ceremony in honour of those fallen in the 1982 South Atlantic conflict.

The Tuesday morning ceremony in the Plaza Malvinas Argentinas of Ushuaia was described as "historic and unprecedented" by Argentine veterans and officials from the local government of the province of Tierra del Fuego. This is the first time in three decades that the Royal Navy Ice Patrol calls in Ushuaia.

HMS Endurance Captain Nick Lambert was the first to lay a flower wreath at the foot of the monument to the Argentine servicemen killed in the 1982 war.

The inscription in the wreath in Spanish was symbolic: "HMS Endurance to the fallen in the South Atlantic".

Ushuaia Veterans organization representative followed with a similar tribute. However not all veterans organizations adhered demanding homage reciprocity in the Falklands.

"A true and sincere acknowledgement from the British would be to let us have a similar ceremony to honour our dead comrades in the Islands", said Martin Aranibar from the Rio Grande Malvinas veterans.

Juan Carlos Parodi from the Ushuaia former combatants' organization warned that if Argentines are banned from a similar event in the Islands, next year HMS Endurance "will not be allowed to call into Ushuaia".

But another member from the organization Carlos Bonetti was more compromising: "it's time to make the most out of dialogue; the ceremony is a benchmark in the understanding of both peoples (Argentine and British) and there's no better way to defend our claims that by emphasizing understanding among peoples".

According to the Tierra del Fuego press the ceremony and joint act initiative came from the British military and was supported by the veterans' organizations from Ushuaia. Rear Admiral Guillermo Estevez, commander of the Argentine Austral Naval Base described the ceremony as "military honoring military".

The local press also reports that not much public followed the ceremony and there was an only protestor with a banner saying "British pirates, out of this place".

HMS Endurance arrived Monday in Ushuaia and is scheduled to leave next Thursday back to Antarctica with several Argentine scientists on board as part of an exchange program.

British Embassy Naval Attaché Chris Hylton has been in Ushuaia since last Sunday. Tierra del Fuego officials and Ushuaia naval authorities were invited to lunch on board the Ice Patrol Monday mid day.

Ushuaia played a logistics and operational role for several Argentine naval units during the 1982 South Atlantic conflict, including the old US built cruiser ARA Belgrano torpedoed and sunk by a British nuclear submarine.