Pick up any Argentinian map and huddled just off the east coast, right down there at the bottom you´ll find Islas Malvinas, better known to the rest of the world as the Falkland Islands.
Easily mistaken for cake crumbs on the map they should be avoided in all conversations by Brits travelling in Argentina, and if you must talk about them dont for god´s sake call them The Falklands.
Back in 1976 in a bloodless coup the military took control and launched the ´Dirty War´ in which thousands (30,000 by some human rights group´s estimates) of Argentinians ´disappeared´. The wives, mothers, and children of the missing still parade every Thursday afternoon at 3pm in Buenos Aires in the hope of getting information of the fate of their loved ones or retribution for the crimes commited.
In 1981 public support for the military leader was fading fast so he played the nationalistic trump card and in 1982 General Galtieri invaded the Falkland Islands (sorry, Islas Malvinas).
A wave of national support and pride quickly swept through the country, then just as quickly disappeared when it became obvious that Galtieri had wildly underestimated the Iron Lady´s determintation not to lose an inch of British territory.
323 soldiers drowned on the Belgrano after it was torpedoed and every village town and city in the country has a public square, street or avenue named after the ship so that no one forgets. After just 74 days and with substantial losses, the Argentina forces, most of whom where no more than 20 years old, surrendered.
There is a happy end to this story though. All support for the military rule was quashed and in 1983 the civilian Alfonsin was elected President and the Dirty War ended once and for all. Those guilty of the crimes however have yet to be charged and the wives, sisters and children continue to parade each Thursday.
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