Islas Malvinas // Falkland Islands

With this blog I know I will make enemies on both sides of this issue, everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
Thirty years, during the last days of march 1982, as we were planning the final details of our wedding we could not foresee what would take place on the 2nd day of April. As I woke up the news was that Argentina had invaded the Falkland Islands, and had setup a base in Port Stanley, it’s capital.
People came out to celebrate the “recovery” of the islands, as it felt that they were Argentinians.
Argentina was under military rule, and it had been a long and bloody period called the dirty war, where supposedly thirty thousand people disappeared.
President Galtieri, the latest of a long list of presidents since 1976, came out to the balcony of the Casa Rosada, the Government House, just like a few of his predecessors such as Juan Peron, Evita, and Isabel Peron, had done in the past. Everybody was wearing white and blue flags. The military government and its repression we wearing thin, people had had enough of them, the economy was in the tank, inflation was starting to get out of control. Later people figured that the reason President Galtieri chose that time to take the islands was because he needed the public to get distracted from the local issues.
What he figured was that the Lion, a tired Lion, would not travel thousands of miles to recover the islands. He also calculated that the U.S. would defend the hemisphere. Both of these calculations were completely wrong. Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister in the UK, and Ronald Reagan was the president of the US, partners in pretty much every decision and ideology that we can think of, from union busting to cutting taxes for the wealthy. Margaret Thatcher was not having a good administration at the time, as she had many problems including problems with miners and strikes, and a weak economy because of a worldwide recession.
Galtieri ended up doing a favor to the “iron lady” as she was nicknamed, as she got herself re-elected after the war.
What made matters worse in Argentina was that the government run news was advertising that the armed forces were kicking the British’s ass, but when we would listen to the BBC at my parents house on Short Wave radio the news appeared to be completely different. They were saying that the british were shooting planes down like there was no tomorrow. On June 12th Pope John Paul II comes to visit Argentina. On June 14th the Argentine government comes on tv and radio to say that they had lost. People were in disbelief. They took to the streets, they went to the Plaza de Mayo, across from the government house. To a certain extent, putting aside the loss of life of the soldiers in the war, many of them conscripts, the defeat was the beginning of the end of the military regime, it was the last nail in the coffin, after that the pressure of the public forced them to call for election, and the rest is history. Argentina has had a “fairly” stable democracy since then, with no more military coup d'état, or simply coup as they are called in the US.
We can argue that the islands are Argentinians. That the only landing strip in the islands before the conflict was built by Argentina, that the kelpers would come to Argentina for medical treatment, that the British Government treated them as second class citizens, that all the food and mail used to come through Argentina, that the settlers were totally abandoned by the British Government, that the people in the UK had no idea where the hell these islands were before the conflict, they hardly knew where Argentina was, if it wouldn’t have been because of the show Evita in the West End. But all this at the end of the day, for me, is totally irrelevant.
The British say that we should allow the settlers decide under who’s umbrella would they like to be. That is also totally ridiculous as well as they didn’t apply that concept when China demanded them to return Hong Kong, knowing that China is a communist country, with no civil liberties. The people who were well off were given asylum, and the poor fell under Chinese government. So we can say that they apply the law that suits them best.
The present government in Argentina has come back to the attack to get the islands. We know the kind of government that Mrs. Kirchner has, with lack of freedom of press, lack of imports, even in the event of medications, and denial of inflation, and growth of the national debt under her presidency. So, I look at the timing as another distraction, just like Galtieri tried 30 years ago.
I view the conflict from a distance as something totally different, probably because living far away and having been far away for almost 27 years gives me a different perspective, or so I think.
It reminds of a big boy who has a toy, and has it in the bottom of the closet, with no purpose for it, but who feels good just denying that toy to somebody who wants. The whole idea is that this boosts their ego by denying Argentina of having the islands.
On the other hand Argentina reminds me of a brat who wants the toy, and who will go on forever with this issue. And I say this because Argentina has a tremendous poverty all across the nation, with people starving, with no jobs, and with the government totally abandoning them to their own mercy. Why have the islands as a priority if there other things that need immediate concern, before a few islands, that have horrendous climate, and nobody would move to, even if they had the opportunity.
People can then say that there is oil or petroleum around the islands. Who cares. Argentina has oil in the continent and does nothing to invest in extracting it, or better still it sells its interests to foreign companies with kickbacks for the people in power at the time of the bidding. It is time to stop blaming the rest of the world for the problem the country has, and start taking responsibility for the mistakes the country has made since its conception in the beginning of the 1800’s.


Se que con este blog voy a hacerme un monton de enemigos de ambas partes, todo el mundo tiene derecho a su opinion.
Treinta años atras, durante los ultimos dias de Marzo de 1982, cuando estabamos celebrando los detalles finales de nuestro casamiento nadie hubiera podido imaginar lo que estaria por ocurrir el 2 de Abril. Cuando me levante ese dia la noticia principal era era que Argentina habia invadido las Islas Malvinas, y habia instalado una base en la capital Port Stanley luego llamada Puerto Argentino.
La gente salio a las calles a celebrar la recuperacion, o reconquista de las islas, dado que siempre se consideraron argentinas.
Argentina estaba bajo un gobierno military, habia transcurrido un period largo y sangruiento llamado la guerra sucia, en donde supuestamente teinta mil personas habian desaparecido.
Galtieri, el presidente de turno en uan larga lista de presidentes desde el año ’76, salio al balcon de la Casa Rosada, la casa de gobierno, tal como lo habian hecho mucho de sus predecesores como Peron, Evita e Isabel Peron lo habian hecho en el pasado. Todo el mundo estaba usando excarapelas con los colores azul y blanco. El gobierno militar y su represion estaban en sus ultimas, la gente ya estaba cansada de ellos, la economia estaba en la lona, la inflacion estaba empezando a acelerarse. Con el paso del tiempo la gente llego a la conclusion de que Galtieri eligio el momento para invader las islas porque necesitaba una distraccion de los problemas locales.
El penso que el leon, un leon cansado, no viajaria mas de miles de kilometros para recuperar las islas. Tambien calculo que EEUU defenderia al hemisferio. Sendos calculos estaban equivocados. La Thatcher era la primer ministra del Reino Unido, y Regan, que era el presidente de EEUU, compartian muchas de las mismas idelogias y decisiones, desde destruccion de sindicatos, reduccion de impuestos de los ricos. La primera ministra no estaba pasando un buen momento politico dado que tenia muchos problemas, incluyendo huelgas y manifestaciones en las minas, y una economia muy debil por una recesion mundial.
El presidente argentino le termino haciendo un favor a la “dama de hierro” como era conocida, dado que gracias al conflicto fue re-electa.
En Argentina lo peor de todo fue que el gobierno tenia intervenido todos los canales de radio y television y difundia noticias de que las fuerzas armadas estaban ganando la guerra, pero en la casa de mis padres donde se escuchaba la BBC en la radio de onda corta las noticias eran totalmente distintas. Ellos decian que los ingleses estaban bajando aviones argentinos. El 12 de Junio el Papa Juan Pablo II llego a la Argentina. El 14 de junio, dos dias despues, el gobierno por medio de un comunicado en los medios de difusion informa al pueblo que las fuerzas armadas habian sido derrotadas en las islas. La gente no lo podia creer. Salieron a las calles, muchos fueron a la Plaza de Mayo. Si uno deja de lado la perdida de vida de los soldados en la guerra, muchos de ellos conscriptos, la derrota fue el principio del final del regimen military, fue el ultimo clavo en el cajon, luego de eso la presion del publico los forzo a llamar a elecciones, y el resto es historia. Argentina ha tenido una democracia “bastante” estable, sin mas golpes de estado.
Podemos discutir que las islas son Argentinas. Que la unica pista de aviones antes del conflict fue construida por la Argentina, que los kelpers venian a Argentina para asistencia medica, que el gobierno britanico los consideraba ciudadanos de segunda categoria, que toda la comida y el correo pasaba por la Argentina, que los pobladores fueron abandonados por el gobierno britanico, que la gente en el Reino Unido no tenia ni idea donde quedaban las islas antes del conflict, a duras penas sabian donde quedaba la Argentina, si no hubiese sido por el show Evita en Londres. Por en definitiva todo esto es irrelevante.
Los britanicos dicen que se le deberia permitir a los pobladores decidir bajo el gobierno de quien quisieran estar. Eso es totalmente ridiculo tambien dado que cuando China les demand el devolucion de Hong Kong no utilizaron el mismo sistema, sabiendo que China tiene un gobierno comunista que no cree in libertades individuales. La gente de clase alta y clase media alta en China fueron dadas ascilo politico, y los demas cayeron en las manos del gobierno chino. Ahi podemos ver que aplican la teoria segun como les viene bien a ellos.
El gobierno argentino actual ha vuelto al ataque con respecto a las islas. Sabemos muy bien el tipo de gobierno que tiene la Sra. Kirchner, con libertad restringida de prensa, cierre de importacion, hasta en el caso de medicamentos, niegue de la inflacion real, y crecimiento de la deuda externa en su presidencia. Yo miro al momento elegido como otro caso de oportunismo para distraer al pueblo, como lo hizo Galtieri 30 años atras.
Desde la distancia miro al conflicto totalmente distinto, tal vez porque he vivido lejos por casi 27 años, y esto me permite mirarlo con otra perspectiva, al menos eso es lo que pienso.
Esto me recuerda a un chico grandote que tiene un juguete, lo tiene en el fondo del placard, sin ninguna utilidad, que lo unico que le interesa es negarle el juguete a alguien que lo quiere. Lo unico que hace esto es inflarle el ego por negarle las islas a la Argentina.
Por otro lado Argentina me hace acordar a un chico mal criado que quiere un juguete, y que va a seguir toda la vida con esto. Digo esto porque Argentina tiene una tremenda pobreza en todo el pais, con gente muerta de hambre, sin trabajos, y con un gobierno que los ha abandonado a su suerte. Porque poner las islas en la lista de prioridades si hay cosas que necesitan cuidado inmediato. Las islas tienen un clima horroroso, nadie se mudiaria ahi, por mas que tuviesen la oportunidad.
La gente puede decir que las islas, y alrededor, tienen petroleo. Que importa. Argentina tiene petroleo y no inverte para extraerlo, o vende sus intereses a compañias extranjeras recibiendo sobornos la gente que esta en el poder en el momento de las licitaciones. Es tiempo de dejar de culpar al resto del mundo por los problemas que tiene el pais, y empezar a tomar responsabilidades de los errors cometidos por el pais desde su concepcion al comienzo del siglo 19.