Malvinas and Human Rights Narratives

Abstract

The Malvinas War —occurred between April 2 and June 14, 1982, product of the decision of the government of the Military Junta headed by Lt. General Leopoldo Galtieri— deserves to be analyzed within the political context of the last civil-military dictatorship and the actions of the de facto government in its attempt to legitimize, perpetuate and sustain itself in political power.

It is common to refer to the war from the perspective of a national historical deed or as heroic deed, just as it is customary to refer to those who fought on the islands as heroes. However, these are representations in which not all social sectors participate and that obscure the density of the Malvinas narratives and the disputes over the meaning of how and what to narrate about the war and the identities of those who have participated in the conflict.

Although the claim for national sovereignty and the legitimate belonging of the Malvinas Islands to our territory is inalienable, it is necessary to analyze the war from a human rights perspective, recognizing its particularities and the disputes of meaning that exist around the representations that the different social actors formulate about the Malvinas.