Graffiti, Garibaldi Pass, Tierra del Fuego

On our return from Chile after a few days on the Carretera Austral (see previous post) the first thing we saw when entering Argentina was a huge map of the Falkland Islands with the words underneath “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (the Falklands are Argentine).

All of the towns we’ve passed have such maps and a monument or a street called Islas Malvinas or Malvinas Argentinas. Maps produced in Argentina include the islands as national territory. Many cars have corresponding bumper stickers.

Over 25 years have passed since the British-Argentine war over the islands but the issue is still omnipresent in the minds of the Argentines. A BBC report cites Malvinas veteran Edgardo Esteban who wrote about his experiences in a book called “Illuminated by Fire”:

When you talk about Argentina you talk about Eva Peron, Gardel, Maradona and tango. For us the Malvinas are part of that identity, it is a symbol, we learn about it at school from a very young age.”

One of my favourite writers, Jorge Luis Borges, once described the war as “two bald men fighting over a comb”.

Another “anonymous writer” has expressed his feelings (English = Pirates) on a wall at a touristy viewpoint in Tierra del Fuego, much to the surprise of my English wife Lisa.

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