MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina declares Darwin memorial “national historic place”

The Darwin memorial will be officially inaugurated next October

The Argentine cemetery in Darwin, Falkland Islands, has been declared by the Argentine government a “national historic place”. The bill with the initiative was approved by Congress on May 13 and promulgated June 4th, according to the Tuesday publication in the official gazette.

In its article 2, Bill 26.498 establishes that the (Argentine) National Commission of Museums and Monuments and Historic Places from the Secretary of Culture will be in charge of implementing the bill and will agree with the Commission of the Families of the Fallen in Malvinas “the pertinent measures to ensure the custody, conservation, reparation and restoration of the place”.

The Darwin cemetery memorial, which is expected to be officially inaugurated later this year, holds the remains of Argentine combatants killed during the 1982 South Atlantic conflict with the United Kingdom. The conflict lasted from April 2nd, when Argentine troops landed in the Falklands, and ended June 14th with the surrender to the Task Force sent by then British PM Margaret Thatcher to recover the Islands. A total of 255 British servicemen and 649 Argentines lost their lives.

The UK and Argentina recently announced they had decided to facilitate the initiative of the Commission of the Families of the Fallen to inaugurate the Falkland Islands Memorial in Darwin Cemetery next October. It is estimated that at least one next of kin for each fallen Argentine combatant will be travelling to the Falklands.

The construction of the memorial was envisaged under the formula on sovereignty in the Argentine-UK Joint Statement of 14 July 1999 and its inauguration had been dragging since 2006.

Next of kin will travel by air to the Falklands Islands on 3 and 10 October 2009, using the scheduled weekly flight service of LAN Chile that was established under the above mentioned Joint Statement of July 1999.

“The announcement of this important act of remembrance is to fulfil the wish of the next of kin of the Argentine Fallen to inaugurate the Memorial in the Islands and in the spirit of promoting co-operation” according to the joint announcement of the next of kin visit for the inauguration.

The inauguration had been stalled because the Argentine government insisted that all next of kin and organizers travel on a single batch for the inauguration, and if necessary would stay overnight in the Falklands.

But the Falklands elected government, which has always supported the pilgrimage, rightly pointed out that there is no infrastructure or logistics in the Islands to look after anywhere from 700 to 900 visitors on a single trip on a single day.

Finally is was agreed that the visit, with the cooperation of Lan Chiles’ larger aircraft on the two dates, will allow the Argentine visitors to travel in and out on the same flight with sufficient time in between to allow them to attend a ceremony at the cemetery. Both flights will travel from Punta Arenas via Rio Gallegos and back via the same route. This means two successive Saturday flights (and therefore two ceremonies) to cope with the numbers requested. They are not charter flights but rather the scheduled once a week Saturday LAN flight.

Initially Argentina had demanded a the Next of Kin be allowed to enter the Falkland Islands on a chartered aircraft, but the Government of the Islands were quick to point out that this was unacceptable as Argentina itself had banned chartered flights to the Falkland Islands.

Falklands Governor Alan Huckle described the arrangement as “a pragmatic solution, which should lead to a successful outcome”.

Falklands elected Legislative Assembly Councillor Mike Summers said he was pleased the visit would go ahead, “...because it has been dragging on for a long while,” and had been causing friction between Britain and Argentina. He added, ”I believe we have found an effective way forward that doesn't compromise our principles”.