The Malvinas and South Atlantic Islands Museum paid this Thursday a Tribute to the fallen crew members, relatives and survivors of the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano Cruise, whose 40th anniversary was celebrated on May 2, where national officials highlighted that “The Malvinas issue should mobilize us and reaffirm our commitment to our rights” over the archipelago.
The act was held within the framework of the national date of the May Revolution and was attended by the head of the Museum, Edgardo Esteban, the Secretary of Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic of the Foreign Ministry, Guillermo Carmona, survivors and relatives of the fallen.
“We want to honor the heroes who lost their lives and the survivors of the sinking”said Carmona at the act and stated that “The Malvinas issue has once again been set up as a State policy that summons the whole of the people Argentinian and that it should mobilize us and reaffirm our commitment to the defense of our legitimate right to the islands, as established by our national Constitution”.
For his part, Esteban considered that the Malvinas issue is “part of the rescue of the collective” and that is why we must work “in the memory of Malvinas every day”.
“Sovereignty is the central axis of the past, the present and builds the future with hope and love. So that the blue and white flag flies in our Falkland Islands,” said the director of the Museum in statements to Télam.
Likewise, he stressed the illegality of the English attack and considered it necessary to pay tribute “to the comrades who remained in the waters of the South Atlantic.”
Along these lines, he explained that from the National Government they have to “continue to encourage the effort on the Malvinas issue” and also achieve “the construction of the great country as a State policy above any political dispute.”
Esteban also expressed that the objective of the Museum is “to continue building the future and transmit love for the Malvinas to subsequent generations, it has to be waving our flag every day.”
“Our flag is not flying in the Malvinas Islands yet, that is why we must continue working so that we ex-combatants see in life that our flag flies in the Malvinas Islands as part of the national territory,” he concluded.
The fact
The sinking of the Cruise, which occurred on May 2, 1982, was a consequence of the torpedo attack by British submarine HMS Conqueror outside the exclusion zone that had been established during the Malvinas war.
This fact was denounced in international courts by Argentina as a war crime, and although the British government always assured that it did not know that the ship was outside the exclusion zone, this was denied by former employees of the English Ministry of Defense.
This Thursday’s ceremony began at 11:30 in front of the Museum’s headquarters, in the Memory and Human Rights Space (ExEsma) and 50 ex-combatants from the ARA General Belgrano Cruise and relatives of the crew members, among other attendees, also participated.
Within the framework of the event, the enhancement and restoration of the signage of the monument to the cruise made in 2014, while two rafts were placed in the water mirror, similar to those used for the evacuation of the ship, and medals were also awarded to the ex-combatants for the 40 years of the war.
While, the president of the 1982 Endowment Foundation and Relatives of the Fallen in the General Belgrano Cruiseex-combatant Juan Coronel, delivered four embroidered flags to the families of four who fell during the combat: Carlos Alberto Benítez, Fernando Esteban Lugo, Juan Carlos Reguera and Edgardo Roberto Pramparo.
Colonel was a conscript soldier and survived the Belgrano attack. At the moment of impact, he was in the lower tower of the ship.
Speaking to Télam, he said that “we had a lot of training, the power was cut off immediately because the second torpedo hit the part of the light generators, and then the practice of getting to know the ship made us leave.”
Meanwhile, during the act, Colonel recalled that “300 of our comrades are still at sea and they can only be reached with memory” and stressed that it is an obligation “to continue remembering those who died.”
“We will never rest until we are sure that the Argentines understand why (the 323 crew members) died,” he said.
He also pointed out that “there are many pending debts, especially with the families of those who died, there are people who directly do not have a tribute and they lack that, and that is our job, to reach those who could never be reached.”
The relatives and survivors of the Cruise, for their part, also stressed the importance of taking this act as a claim for historical reparations.
