MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malvinas remain “inexorably Argentine” says Macri on invasion anniversary

The Malvinas Islands remain “inexorably Argentine” said president Mauricio Macri in a message in the social networks aired following the tribute to the Malvinas war veterans at the cenotaph in central Buenos Aires and later meeting with officers and veterans at the Olivos residence.

 On the anniversary of the beginning of the conflict, 2 April 1982, following the invasion by Argentine military of the Falklands/Malvinas, Macri in his Facebook stated that “remembering is to revive the war 34 years ago, which took the lives of 649 Argentines, many of them children barely 18 year olds”.

“Those Islands in the south Atlantic which bring us all those memories continue to be inexorably ours: they are waiting for us with continental patience. We will return”, said the president.

And “we will do it following the path that leads the nations of the world, we will return with the force of dialogue, the force of truth and all the force of justice”, added the president who on Saturday returned from the Nuclear security summit in Washington.

Summing up the commemoration was not as low key as the Macri administration had programmed but it was no near the Kirchner years nationalistic outbursts. Officially it's the Malvinas War Veteran and Fallen Day and Argentina commemorated the anniversary with rallies and solemn ceremonies across the country.

President Macri attended in the morning the Malvinas War Veterans memorial in downtown Buenos Aires and deposited a flower wreath at the cenotaph. He was escorted by the presidency's secretary Fernando De Andreis, the Human Rights secretary Claudio Abruj and a group of veterans.

Likewise in the rest of Argentina commemorations started on Friday night the vigil of Saturday 2 April, particularly in Patagonian towns from where most troops were shipped to the Falklands and air attacks originated. During the day Malvinas veterans attended rallies, participated in parades and paid tribute to all their comrades who did not return from combat.

Later in the day Macri received at the presidential residence in Olivos a delegation of military officers, war veterans and a woman veteran, as had been previously announced.

Members of his cabinet meantime participated in the main commemoration in Tierra del Fuego, both in the cities of Rio Grande and Ushuaia.