MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cristina “Malvinera” Kirchner promises no respite in struggle for Falklands

“Malvinas Women” image at the Women’s Hall of Honour in Casa Rosada

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner claimed she is “profoundly malvinera” and promised to continue struggling at all international forums for what is unrenounceable for Argentina: “the claim over our Malvinas”.

During a farewell ceremony at Government House in Buenos Aires for the second group of Malvinas Families which left late Friday night for Rio Gallegos, and early Saturday will be flying to the Falklands for the opening of the Memorial at the Argentine cemetery, Mrs Kirchner called on all Argentines for “honour and glory to our fallen” in the 1982 Malvinas war.

“We are going to continue with all possible actions, with all strategies in international forums, in each opportunity, for what is unrenounceable for the Argentines and that is the claim for our Malvinas islands in the framework of international law, and according to what has been decided by all countries in the world represented in United Nations”, emphasized the Argentine president who met with the next of kin at the Women’s Hall of Casa Rosada.

“The United Kingdom must sit to discuss with us Argentines this issue; and that is what we are going for, so that all international laws are honoured, and we will continue to toil tirelessly with that objective in mind”, underlined Mrs. Kirchner.

She said that the Women’s Hall for the bicentennial of Argentina next year will also have an image of the “Malvinas Women”, which will represent mothers, sisters, wives and daughters of those who, “for the Motherland delivered the utmost sacrifice, their lives”.

“All of you travelling to the Argentine cemetery for the inauguration of the Memorial can be sure you are representing all of us and you are doing so in the name of 40 million Argentines”.

Mrs Kirchner said that “you can be certain that this president has always had a strong commitment to Malvinas and it’s not recent: Malvinas combatants know this from the time I was a member of Congress”, and now “I’m representing all Argentines and I am profoundly ‘malvinera’, I’m profoundly committed to our Malvinas”.

The second group of Malvinas Families, this time over 200, is scheduled to leave early Saturday for the Falklands on board the regular weekly Lan Chile flight. Once in Darwin at mid morning they will participate in a religious service and inauguration ceremony of the Memorial. The rest of the time in the Falklands is to be spent more privately next to the remains of their beloved.

This second group will also be carrying a statue of Our Lady of Lujan, Argentina’s saint patroness that was toured in all 24 provinces and will be erected in a hermite at the cenotaph to watch over “the eternal repose of the Motherland’s children who fought the good fight for independence and national sovereignty,” as the inscription at the foot of the statue reads.

When the first group of next of kin last Saturday, Mrs. Kirchner saw them off at Rio Gallegos and also sent a strong political message, “on day this century an Argentine president will be able to visit the Islands to homage our brave Malvinas heroes at the Argentine cemetery”.

This second trip to the Falklands closes the chapter of the Memorial official inauguration, but more visits of large groups, which demand logistics planning, are being programmed for next year, probably March-April, according to Malvinas Families sources. Small groups and individuals can visit the cemetery whenever they please at their own cost. The large groups were sponsored and financed home-to-home by the Argentine government.