MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Veteran Argentine cameraman with Falklands experience dies

Argentine television cameraman Erich Schmidt died in Buenos Aires last weekend after a long illness.

German born Eric - as he became know in the Falkland Islands - was the first Argentine based cameraman to be allowed to work in the islands after the end of the 1982 conflict. In October 1993 he flew to Stanley from Punta Arenas using his German passport to join up with also Argentine-based, British journalist Nick Tozer to cover the Legislative Council elections then taking place for Canal 13 and Todo Noticias TV station of Buenos Aires. At the time they became the first representatives of the Argentine media to be allowed to work in the islands with due authorisation from the island authorities. On 14 October 1993 Schmidt and Tozer made the first broadcast ever from the Falkland Islands on Argentine television, broadcasting a story on the elections and then carrying out a live link up with Canal 13 newsroom to report on the LegCo elections and comment on local reaction to the news that then President of Argentina Carlos Menem had been hospitalized. Schmidt, with the assistance of the Cable & Wireless staff, rigged up an improvised satellite broadcast from the reception area of the old C & W telephone office. A rival Argentine TV station used the same set up to make a second broadcast later the same day. Eric later returned to the islands on several other occasions having being cameraman for Canal 13's Monica Cahen D'Anvers when she travelled to cover the Pebble Island funerals in November 1995. A top news cameraman for over 30 years many local journalists having being paying tribute to Erich for his superb footage of numerous news stories around the world. In the islands he will probably be best remembered for his warm personality and for his efforts to communicate with islanders in a mixture of his native German, adopted Spanish and almost non-existent English.