MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine forensic team identify remains of another combatant buried in the Falklands

“The case of Sergeant Cisnero is the first confirmed since the historic trip of the next of kin to the Islands last March”, said a release from the Human Rights Office

The remains of yet another Argentine combatant fallen during the Falklands conflict in 1982, and buried at the Argentine military cemetery in Darwin, have been identified bringing the number to 91, out of a total of 121 only a year ago.

 According to the Argentine Human Rights Secretary office, Sergeant Mario Antonio Cisnero, from the northern province of Catamarca, and who fell on 9 June 1982, was finally identified by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology team, the first since last 26 March when the next of kin of 90 combatants, visited the Falklands to honor and pray next to the graves of their beloved, which now have a full name on the tombstone.

“The case of Sergeant Cisnero is the first confirmed since the historic trip of the next of kin to the Islands last March”, said a release from the Human Rights Office in Buenos Aires.

“The Cisnero family has been notified at the National Memory Archive by the interdisciplinary team of experts”, added the report, pointing out that some personal effects belonging to Cisnero, and found in the grave during the forensic tasks undertaken by the International Commission of the Red Cross, have been delivered to the family.

The information says that the identification process continues with the purpose of increasing “the number of heroes localized and identified, and this way giving their beloved comfort and a long awaited reply after 36 years”

In 1983 the number of unidentified tombs at the Argentine military cemetery in Darwin was 121, which were buried by a team under British army officer Geoffrey Cardoso, with a white cross and a black stone reading, “Argentine soldier only known to God”.

Thanks to the meticulous work of Cardoso and Malvinas veterans determined efforts to have their fellow combatants identified, finally Argentina and the UK agreed last year to the identification task under the Red Cross, with the decisive support for the humanitarian effort from the Falkland Islands.

This means that there are still twenty remains to be identified, but it is proving to be an achievable task.