Bishop highlights the courage of the Malvinas heroes: it wasn’t in vain

When commemorating in Argentina on the day of the veteran and the fallen in the Malvinas War, the bishop of Mar del Plata, Mons. Ernesto Giobando, asked for “the grace of courage and the decision to move forward our homeland” that the Malvinas heroes had.

In a solemn act headed by the mayor of General Pueyrredón, Guillermo Montenegro, with the presence of Malvinas fighters, the bishop was in charge of religious invocation.

In his prayerinvited those present to thank those who left their lives in the Falkland Islands, and thanks to those who survived and today they are “living memory of that war”, of whom he valued “his offering and decision to defend a territory that will always be Argentine.”

Within that framework, he asked that their lives “not be forgotten”, but that they are like a flame “always on.”

The Prelate also considered the moment to apologize “for the decision to claim our rights on the islands in that way and in those circumstances”, and recalled that “there are other paths that are not war and blood spill.”

“Sorry for the amount of soldiers, non -commissioned and official boys of the armed forces that left their lives and their illusions in the islands”, where many of them are buried.

“For them and for so many mistakes made in our homeland, yesterday and today, we ask for forgiveness and that they can rest in peace,” he said.

By also remembering the 20th anniversary of the death of San Juan Pablo II, he highlighted the role he had as a “messenger of peace” at that time of the Argentine homeland.

Mons. Giobando ended his message begging God that we can have “the grace of courage and the decision to move forward our homeland, as our heroes did.”

“We had to go and they went, they had to fight and fought, they had to die and died. And it was not in vain. Here we are and we asked God for his blessing and protection,” he concluded.

What happened in the Malvinas War?

The Argentine occupation of the archipelago took place on April 2, 1982, in claim for the historical law on the Falkland Islands, South Georgias and South Sandwich, territories controlled by the United Kingdom.

The operation was promoted by the Argentine military government of that time, led by Leopoldo Galtieri, and executed by a majority of 18 -year -old soldiers and without sufficient preparation to face a war conflict of such magnitude, who had to support adverse climatic conditions, with precarious logistics preparation and limited supply.

The British response soon arrived, thus producing a war that lasted 74 days, with significant casualties on both sides during terrestrial, naval and aerial clashes.

Argentina surrendered on June 14, and British control over the islands was restored. In the war, 649 Argentine soldiers died and, 43 years after that moment, the country continues to claim sovereignty over the territory of Malvinas.