The April 2 Malvinas War Veteran's Day holiday will showcase the rift in the Argentine Government much more than it would highlight any question of sovereignty and patriotism. While President Javier Milei will head the ceremony in the Buenos Aires district of Retiro, where a cenotaph remembers thhose fallen in the 1982 conflict, Vice President Victoria Villarruel -who was not invited- is to attend an event in Ushuaia to join a group of former combatants, which her late father also was.
Falklands born, Argentine citizen Alejandro Betts rejected statements published in Clarin which described his 'Malvinas veteran' pension as 'controversial' and admitted he was surprised, when not startled by the headline display the news was given by the Buenos Aires daily in reference to his activity during the 1982 South Atlantic conflict.
The head of Argentina's army, Major General Cesar Milani long accused of human rights violations, has resigned and will be replaced by General Ricardo Luis Cundom, a Malvinas conflict veteran.
President Cristina Fernández rejected the possibility that a delegation of Argentine sportsmen may not fly to London to attend the 2012 Olympics as part of an Argentine boycott in response to the United Kingdom’s refusal to discuss the Malvinas Islands sovereignty.
A Malvinas war veteran drowned in an attempt to reach the Falkland Islands in a kayak from Ushuaia while his companion was rescued by an Argentine Navy patrol and is in hospital in a state of chock, reported the Buenos Aires press in the last day of 2011.