The Argentine cemetery in Darwin, Malvinas/Falkland Islands, is nearing the conclusion of a process that has lasted more than four decades. Only five unmarked graves remain.
For the families of Argentine soldiers killed in the 1982 war — when the Argentines invaded the islands, which have associate state status with the United Kingdom — this is essential: knowing where a son or brother is buried.
For the history of the conflict, this is a belated attempt to appease the minds of those who think that this conflict is not yet over.
After all, Argentines did not give up their claim to sovereignty over the islands, even after losing the war and there was a referendum in 2013, in which more than 99% of the population demanded that the link with the United Kingdom remain the same.
Shortly after the end of the fighting – which killed 649 people on the Argentine side and 255 on the British side – there was no interest in organizing a cemetery for Argentine soldiers. The bodies remained scattered in the mountains and other battlefields.
It was shortly after the conflict that the British officer Geoffrey Cardozo arrived on the islands. He had been sent to supervise the post-conflict situation. But as engineers moved forward in removing the thousands of mines scattered across the islands, bodies began to appear.
“One day they called me and told me they had found a body. I took a helicopter and went down into the middle of the minefield. He was the first one I found. An Argentine soldier. He was lying in the snow with his eyes open. I closed my eyes and thought he couldn’t be more than 18 or 19 years old,” Cardozo said. Leaf.
The impact was definitive. “I thought of my mother kissing me as I was leaving on a mission. And I thought, ‘This boy has a mother too.’ That thought motivated everything I did afterward.”
From then on, Cardozo said he considered this to be his true mission. “It was more urgent to collect these corpses and build a cemetery, because the Argentine government did not want to take them back.”
Argentina’s post-dictatorship presidents also made no effort to repatriate them. The argument was that they had fallen in defense of territory they considered Argentine and therefore had to stay there.
But the bodies could not remain on the hills where most had died during the fighting. Nor could they be buried in the Stanley Civil Cemetery. The population of the capital rejected the construction of an Argentine cemetery in the city. That’s when the solution appeared. “This wonderful man, a Malouin, said: “Geoffrey, I have land for you. » It was almost biblical, you know? Cardozo said.
The British officer returned to London, assembled a team and returned to the Falklands. Work began in January 1983. In a few weeks, he and his team recovered 246 bodies. Most of them didn’t even have papers, so Cardozo buried them with his belongings, to facilitate future identification work. Each received a coffin and a grave. But each of the tombstones bore the same words: “Argentine soldier, known only to God.”
“The term ‘repatriation’ is very complicated in Argentina,” says Cardozo. “The governments think the islands are Argentinian, so they think they should stay there.”
Most of the fighters came from poor provinces, such as Corrientes and Formosa. It was therefore always very difficult for families to visit them. Some NGOs and businessmen concerned by the cause occasionally organize trips for relatives. “But when they got there, they didn’t know which person to honor, because there was no ID,” says Cardozo.
Decades passed before the scenario began to change. Argentinian veteran Julio Aro went to the Darwin cemetery and was shot. He teamed up with Cardozo and both went to the Red Cross. The islands’ government encouraged the work on a purely humanitarian tone.
A long mobilization began, but for years no concrete progress was recorded. When the Kirchners were in power in Argentina, with a strong anti-imperialist discourse, the government put obstacles in the way of carrying out the project. Talks with the United Kingdom only opened in 2016, as part of a diplomatic rapprochement between the two countries. Then-President Mauricio Macri defended the continuation of the identification project.
Starting in 2017, forensic teams exhumed the bodies and conducted DNA tests, comparing them with samples provided by family members. The work involved Argentina’s renowned forensic anthropology team. The results began to appear. In 2018, 90 soldiers were identified. And the process continues.
Comparing today’s cemetery with what Leaf visited 12 years ago is impactful. At that time, there were several unmarked white graves. From now on, families are already leaving flowers, photographs, letters, rosaries and small objects from the soldiers. Everyone goes home with a feeling of encouragement.
The journalist traveled at the invitation of the British embassy in Brazil.
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