400 kilometers from the Argentine coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Falkland Islands experienced several waves of colonization before being definitively considered a "British overseas territory" in 1833. But nearby Argentina claimed the islands since its independence in 1816. In the spring of 1982, Leopoldo Galtieri, leader of the junta in power in Argentina at the time, decided to "recover" his territory and ordered his troops to invade the Falkland Islands.
The archipelago falls in a few hours.
To retake these islands, which the United Kingdom as the Falklands Islands, the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, decided to immediately send her navy more than 12,000 kilometers from London.
The conflict lasted ten weeks, killing 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders.
It ends on June 14, 1982 with the surrender of the Argentine troops.
Since then, diplomatic relations between Buenos Aires and London were restored in 1990. But the position of the two countries on the Falklands has not changed.
A Falklands museum in Buenos Aires
Despite this military defeat in 1982, time does not seem to have any effect on the attachment of Argentines to the Falkland Islands.
The 1994 Argentine Constitution itself is unambiguous: "the recovery of said territories and the full exercise of sovereignty (...) constitute a permanent and inalienable objective of the Argentine people".
We thus find the Falklands everywhere in the country, omnipresent, on murals, road signs or even on the 50 peso note.
The Falkland Islands on a 50 peso note © France 24 /Nicolas Flon
The Falklands Museum in Buenos Aires is even dedicated to this claim.
It is visited every day by more than 1,000 students, who learn there the reasons why these islands are truly Argentine.
"The most important thing is that all students know the arguments to defend our sovereignty. When the English usurped the islands on January 3, 1833, they forcibly expelled the population and the Argentine authorities who were there. But we were there before them,” explains guide Silvina Gutérrez.
Falklands Museum in Buenos Aires © France 24 / Nicolas Flon
Thirty years of exile to heal from the war
Martín Otaño was 18 when he was sent to fight in the Falklands.
Like him, seven out of ten fighters were young conscripts under the age of 20.
Upon his return, he suffers from post-traumatic stress and falls into drugs.
"The return was traumatic, because we were brought back in hiding, at night. As we had lost the war, it was like a shame. It was almost more painful than anything I had experienced during the two and a half months of the war. So I locked up everything that happened and I never spoke about it with anyone again. I imagine that psychological assistance would have helped me, but I never did. I had and I never asked for it because I didn't want to talk about any of this. I was afraid that it would reopen wounds that I thought had closed. When they weren't closed at all."
Martín left the country and went into exile in Spain for nearly 30 years to heal.
It was when his childhood friend, Javier de Aubeyzon, contacted him again that Martín decided to return to Buenos Aires.
Javier found a letter that the young soldier had sent to him from the battlefield.
Javier, who is now a painter, wants to transpose it into a large painting: "what is surprising in this letter is the way in which Martín writes. He was only 18 at the time and you can feel the extreme situation in which he is. He writes: 'I am writing to you lost at the ends of the world, in the middle of the cold and the most absolute solitude'. The cadence of this sentence!"
Martín Otaño's letter in which the soldier recounted the Falklands War in 1982 © France 24 / Nicolas Flon
Javier was not drawn by the army in 1982 and therefore did not have to fight on the archipelago.
But like all Argentines, he is not unaware of the central place of these islands in Argentina.
"The cause of the Falklands is rooted deep in this country, without a doubt," he said.
"Besides, despite the very significant political gap, the two political sides of the country agree on a single theme: sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. Over time, it has become something almost sacred."
A local population attached to the United Kingdom
Graciela Cabrera lost her pilot husband, Luciano Guadagnini, during the war.
He died during the attack on the English frigate Antelope on May 23, 1982. She attended, 40 years later, a tribute ceremony in the province of Cordoba.
“I am proud that there are still people who mobilize these memories and keep them alive, that we remember the heroes who died and also those who came back. We must keep this fire alive, that of the claiming our sovereignty, be it historical, geographical, political and social. These islands are ours, they are part of our lands. One day, perhaps diplomatically, the Argentine flag will be able to fly again over the Falklands."
Andra Guadagnini, daughter of Graciela and Luciano, was one year old when her father died in the Falklands: "
Graciela Guadagnini and her daughter Andra during a war commemoration ceremony © France 24 /Nicolas Flon
According to a 2021 poll, more than eight in ten Argentines want their government to continue claiming sovereignty over the islands.
But on the archipelago in question, the British feeling is very strong.
In 2013, a referendum was organized there to ask the inhabitants if they wanted to remain attached to the United Kingdom: 99.8% of the participants voted yes.
Leona Roberts is one of them.
His family arrived on the archipelago in 1841, they represent the sixth generation.
"What is difficult for us is that Argentina completely refuses to take us into account," she explains.
"They accuse us of being settlers, which is absurd. There was practically nothing when my ancestors arrived here. We built this country. So telling us that we don't exist, that me and my children do not have the right to self-determination, I find it offensive and very annoying. The international community does not seem to listen to our voice. There are so few of us,
Eric Goss was responsible for the Goose Green colony on the archipelago.
During the war, more than a hundred inhabitants had been held hostage by the Argentines in the central building of the village.
These traumatic memories have never left him in forty years: "I have never forgiven and I never will. I have been to the United Nations twice, I met Argentineans there and I told them that I will never shake hands with an Argentinian until they renounce the Falklands."
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