MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malvinas invasion recalled by President Cristina Fernandez in Puerto Madryn

The Argentine president will attend the port city where most Argentine soldiers were shipped by the British after recovering the Falklands

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez will lead on Tuesday the commemorations of the 31st anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas war in the Patagonian city of Puerto Madryn.

Ceremonies are planned all over the country even when this year Argentines are enjoying a very long Easter holiday that took off on Holy Thursday and extends until Tuesday 2nd April when the Argentine military in 1982 landed in the Falklands.

Chubut province governor Martin Buzzi who originally announced the invitation to the Argentine president to recall the anniversary of the beginning of the South Atlantic conflict on 2 April 1982, said the ceremony will take place at midday in Puerto Madryn.

“For us Patagonians the Malvinas cause is something very close and touching, since because of geographic reasons we lived through the conflict and the aftermath very closely” said Governor Buzzi.

Chubut province on Tuesday will be the epicentre of commemorations throughout Argentina since the day is remembered as Malvinas Veterans’ Day, and Puerto Madryn was “the place where back in 1982 our soldiers, our boys returned from combat at the end of the conflict”, when the British recaptured the Falklands and the prisoners were shipped to Argentina in June 1982.

Meantime Vice president Amado Boudou is scheduled to head the ceremony in Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego. Since 1995 in Rio Grande, Malvinas veterans associations start the commemoration with a vigil the night before April 2nd which is usually visited by government and provincial authorities. Veterans in tents, next to bonfires, share with neighbours hot drinks, songs and food waiting for the arrival of April 2.

On Wednesday Cristina Kirchner is scheduled to attend a similar ceremony in the province of Buenos Aires where she will be sharing the podium with Governor Daniel Scioli, who has recently taking distance from the president following statements about his political ambitions much criticized by CFK acolytes.

Scioli has said that if President Cristina Fernandez does not run again in 2015 for another mandate, he would dispute the presidential candidacy. The result has been not only a barrage of criticisms from the Kirchnerites but also a freezing of federal financial support which has impeded him to reach an agreement with the teachers’ union, on strike for weeks with no classes in the province of Buenos Aires.

“I feel there is a gap between the President and myself” admitted Scioli who nevertheless said that the whole thing has been blown out of proportions by the “fanatic Kirchnerites” from the presidential bunker. Scioli to further mark distance has been holding talks and mingling with political leaders in the ‘black list’ of President Cristina Fernandez.

Buenos Aires is the largest and richest Argentine province and the heart of any political project since it holds 35% of the national electorate.