MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Twenty-six years on: Malvinas landings to be remembered

The main memorial ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of the Argentine landings on the Malvinas is to be held today at 12.30 at Plaza San Martín in downtown Buenos Aires. Expected to speak is retired Admiral Carlos Busser, who led the landings.

Vice-President Julio Cobos is expected to attend ceremonies in Ushuaia marking the Day of the Fallen in the Malvinas and War Veterans' Day, organized by the local veterans' centre. Osvaldo Hiller, president of the centre, told local news agency Télam that last week he had headed a delegation that travelled to Buenos Aires; in his words, it had been received "very graciously" by Cobos in the "San Martín" salon of Congress. "We invited him (to the commemoration in Ushuaia) a month ago and later we were able to repeat the invitation in person; when we did he confirmed that he would be in Ushuaia on April 2." He went on to say that the delegation had taken the opportunity to have a brief talk about "the veterans' initiatives for Congress to make progress in the area of sovereignty" and that Cobos had undertaken to support them as well as discuss them further today. Hiller yesterday gave a brief description of the ceremonies' proceedings: first, the traditional overnight vigil in the Plaza Malvinas, through the main ceremony at 11am today. As on previous occasions, an Argentine flag which has been flown at the first national Malvinas monument is to be presented to an institution. This will take place at the foot of the flagpole from which it will be flown once more. This year the honour will befall on the Southern Naval Region. Later, the main ceremony is to be held in the presence of Cobos, Governor Fabiana Ríos and other national, provincial and local leaders. During the week there are to be school visits to the Plaza, where talks about the islands will be held, "not about the war but their current situation, the Argentine claim to sovereignty and the natural and geographical characteristics of the archipelago," according to Hiller. He also confirmed the Argentine Veterans' Federation satisfaction with the outcome of a meeting with Interior Ministry Florencio Randazzo to whom they presented a series of demands. Buenos Aires Herald