MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Vice president Scioli heads Malvinas war commemoration

On the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the South Atlantic conflict Argentina called Monday on the United Kingdom to resume Falkland Islands sovereignty negotiations as indicated by resolutions from United Nations.

Vice president Daniel Scioli, together with several cabinet ministers, (Defence, Foreign Affairs and Home Secretary) headed the main commemoration which took place in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego and promised that Argentina "will insist with it claims at all hazards, from dialogue to the power of reason". "The dispute must be solved by re-establishing sovereignty negotiations. We will never cease to claim for our legitimate rights", said Scioli adding that "respect for territorial integrity can be conciliated with the rights of the Islanders to a fair solution". "Resuming dialogue means recognizing the obligation of both sides to find a fair solution. Nor time or war changes reality, Malvinas are Argentine, always have been and always will be", he emphasized. Several hundred Malvinas war veterans were present at the ceremony which included a parade through the streets of Ushuaia plus depositing flowers at the sea shore to honour the 655 Argentines killed during the 1982 conflict. A group of veterans also presented Defence Minister Nilda Garré the first claims of alleged human rights violations during the South Atlantic conflict committed by Argentine officers. The presentation was done by Pablo Vassel Corrientes Province Human Rights Deputy Secretary with the support from veterans organizations' from that province and La Plata. The accusation includes ten hours of recording from 23 former soldiers who insist they witnessed one of their fellow companions killed; the death of three others because of lack of food and water plus having suffered corporal punishment such as being staked to the ground under snow conditions and other forms of abuse by military officers. A second copy of the tapes and 200 pages transcriptions were presented to the President's secretariat and following Holy Week the case will be formalized before the federal justice in the province of Tierra del Fuego, which according to the Argentine legal system has jurisdiction over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.