The losers in the Falklands war
25 years ago have been shunned by society. annie kelly reports |
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Twenty-five years ago, Miguel Boyero was aboard the Argentinian warship the General Belgrano when it was sunk by torpedoes fired from a British submarine at the start of the Falkland Islands war.
Boyero survived; 329 of his comrades died. Last month, Boyero hanged himself just days after the start of the war's 25th anniversary commemorations. He joins an estimated 400 Argentinian veterans who have committed suicide since the conflict ended.
For most Argentinans the belief that Las Malvinas (as they call the Falklands) belong to Argentina is as much a part of their national identity as Eva Peron, Maradona or the tango. But while the national preoccupation with their sovereign right over the Falklands has never dimmed, Argentina's treatment of its veterans has been one of the most shameful legacies of the war.
"Those of us who are still here are surviving
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| An estimated 400 Argentinian veterans have committed suicide since the conflict ended 25 years ago |
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rather than living," says Alfredo Pucci, now 43, but an 18-year old conscript at the time. "Since the war ended we have spent our lives ignored, sick and unemployed."
Alfredo was one of the 12,000 men sent to recapture the islands on April 2, 1982 by General Leopoldo Galtieri, head of the failing military junta which had plunged Argentina into economic crisis. Alfredo's memories of the 72-day war are defined by cold and hunger.
"We had no clothes, no boots, sometimes no guns," he says. "We had to take it in turns to eat while next to us the officers ate pasta. They sent us to fight and we hadn't had food for three days. Three of our comrades died of hunger. We drank out of holes in the ground while our superiors drank Coca-Cola."
But he says the real hell began when they got home. Argentina is a country that doesn't like losers. When Pucci and his surviving comrades first left their homes they were told they would return as heroes. Coming home defeated two months later, they were dumped at the port town of Ushuaia and told to make their own way home. 
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