MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“At some point” Argentina will recover Malvinas

At some moment and point Argentina will recover the Malvinas forecasted Argentine Home Minister Anibal Fernandez during a ceremony to honour members of the National Gendarmerie that were killed in the 1982 South Atlantic conflict with Britain.

"One must honour combatants; we must claim what belongs to us and at some moment and point we will achieve it", said Fernandez in Campo de Mayo, the Argentine Army's main barracks in Buenos Aires.

The ceremony recalls the "baptism of fire" of the militarized Gendarmerie May 30, 1982 when six members of the elite "Alacran" (Scorpion) group and their Puma helicopter were downed by enemy missiles from a Harrier.

Fernandez as commander in chief of Home Ministry federal forces said "24 years of shame are over" because returning combatants "instead of been hailed and supported, were hidden, swept under the carpet".

"We should have had them march, to show them our gratitude and our respect. But no, the veterans were taking out of the spot light, denied pensions and social security", he underlined.

Minister Fernandez said that the attitude of the Kirchner administration was not a mere gesture or solving individual problems, but rather "a homage to those who sacrificed or offered their lives for all Argentines and the motherland".