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We have talked with Germán Bonanni, a member of the Center for Ex-Combatants of the Malvinas La Plata Islands (CECIM) on several occasions. His stories are usually deep. Detailed. Therefore, 40 years following the war, it occurred to me to write from one of his anecdotes. She figures, as a field note, in my Impunity Technologies book: how the dictatorship tried to hide the crimes committed during the Malvinas War (Edulp;; Instituto Malvinas UNLP; CECIM, 2021). German account:
“We have to go back a little further and say that my group, which was the third group of the third section, from Company C of the 7th Regiment was made up of members of the Destino section. These were the clerks, as was my case, and all those who had a trade within the Regiment: plumbers, gas fitters, painters, clerks as was mine. This shows that the military training was much lower than that of the soldiers of the infantry companies. Well, with that, when the second call was made to re-form the 7th Regiment that had been discharged, those of us who belonged to the Destiny section were called upon. Thus, in that condition of little military training, we went to Malvinas.
At one point, the Company Leader tells us “let’s see, the eight soldiers of the third section, with their bags, to Puerto Argentino.” Well, that’s how we went. We didn’t really know what we had to do. We arrived in Puerto Argentino. There we were attended by the Chief of the Regiment, whom we had never seen before, and he told us very seriously “soldiers, you are going to be part of the history of this Republic”. Then the chaplain came, gave us a mass and put us on a helicopter. Logically none of us knew where we were going to go. We were eight soldiers, a corporal, a soldier who had become involved in a military career, and the youngest second lieutenant in the entire 7th Regiment. Well, we flew like that until they left us very close to the coast and they told us that our I work there, it was going to be to notify if we saw the British landing, which they supposed might be there. In that case, we had to warn by radio and fall back. They gave us supplies for two days and, when we started to put things away, we realized that they had given us a radio set without batteries. The radio equipment was not working, which was the end of our adventure -which we later found out was in Bahía San Carlos-. Nothing we were doing made sense, because no one had checked to make sure the radio batteries were flat. So the day passed, they made us stand guard and go down to the coast. The fog was deep. Two of our companions were lost, and one of us was lost for almost a day and a half until we were able to find him. In a situation where no one knew exactly what to do. The two days passed and the rations ran out. The third day came and we had nothing to eat. We didn’t know, since we didn’t have a radio, if they had forgotten regarding us, what had happened. Suddenly, on the fourth day, we see the helicopter arrive. They threw a lamb at us, so that we might eat that, and left once more. They didn’t give us time to tell them that the radio wasn’t working. Today I tell it as an anecdote, but following having lived that, I am lucky to be alive.”
Malvinas was one more chapter of the dictatorship. I have been able to collect a hundred stories like Germán’s, in my 11 years of legal support to CECIM. The strange thing is that they are not the ones that occupy the central news when it comes to commemorating the war event. The Armed Forces, by 1982, were instructed in the doctrine of national security, for repression and not for defense. For this reason, the Rattenbach Report is clear in warning that the Malvinas War was a “military adventure”. Additionally, between April 2 and June 14, the Argentine military tortured conscript soldiers. To date, 176 ex-combatants have declared, as victims, or eyewitnesses of the events.
The Malvinas issue is still waiting
40 years following the Malvinas, and 15 following the start of the case for serious human rights violations, the soldiers await justice. That is why it is essential to review these narratives. What Germán must have suffered, and all the Germans who endured in body and soul the military incompetence, along with torture and, in some cases, death. That is why there is so much to do. Rewrite history, no more, no less. disassemble Falklands so that the Argentine people know the Truth, and advance in the matter of Justice.
* Jeronimo Guerrero Iraola. CECIM Lawyer. Author Technologies of impunity.
