An Argentinian veteran of the Falklands War who puts the Falkland Islanders rights ahead of his own Governments claim to the Islands

Last year I was contacted by the Guardian about doing and interview with an Argentinian who also fought in the 1982 War Roberto Herrscher    I was reluctant at first as  I didn't want to get into a slanging match about who owned the Islands, my worries were unfounded and I had a great debate with Roberto.He did his duty as I did mine as young men. This is what Roberto has to say about the disputed Islands. "My country must respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders"

Thirty years ago, on an island in the South Atlantic (called Isla Soledad for me and East Falkland to you),  I was a 19-year-old navy conscript and my friend, sailor Juan Ramon Turano, was 17. Even for a kid like me, Turano looked and behaved like a child – he was wiry and hyperkinetic; he moved, talked and joked non-stop. But he was sent to war before he could drive or vote. Well, none of us could vote, because we were living under the bloody dictatorship of  General Leopoldo Galtieri.
That night, May 26, 1982, the war was reaching its climax  and the British frigates had started to bombard our position in Fox Bay. I was trembling with cold or fear in a makeshift  foxhole when the news came that Turano had lost control of  himself, firing in different directions before falling over his rifle and blowing his head off. I couldn’t believe it. If there was anyone so alive – full of the energy and unconsciousness of adolescence – it was him.
The night was long and I couldn't get his face out of my mind. The following morning, I was sent to collect water at the well and there he was. A muddy green blanket had been placed over his corpse, but it was too short and his brown boots stuck out. They still come back in  my nightmares.Yes, I am a Falklands war  veteran, who fought for Argentina. Paraphrasing Wilfred Owen, for those of you who have read Strange Meeting, I am the enemy you almost killed, my friend. When I came home, on June 21, I felt angry, sad, lost. I found it painful to sleep, hard to communicate my feelings, and, when I started talking, I couldn’t make myself shut up. I was too young to be a veteran, yet much older than my friends. I hated almost everyone A week from today, about 1,500 Falkland Islanders (from a  population of around 2,500) will decide in a referendum whether they want to continue being a British Overseas Territory, as they have been since 1833. If  the answer is ‘no’, there will  be another vote to decide an alternative legal status. But that will not happen: the islanders consider themselves British and all the local councillors have called for a ‘yes’ vote.
And every time a new episode occurs, such as this referendum, in the apparently never-ending battle of shouts, sabre-rattling and what we call in Spanish a ‘dialogue of two deaf men’, I feel sad, angry and disillusioned all over again.
My country had sent me to fight a war I felt was unjust and unnecessary. I had seen comrades like Turano die. I owed  my life to a few good men in  the Argentine military forces, but I still believed the military dictatorship had crushed our country, terrifying the population into silence.After that bloody war, we Argentines regained our democracy, and it is about democracy that I would like to chat with you today. I belong to a generation that dreamed of having the right to vote, to choose, to have a voice. Back then, we had no rights. We couldn’t choose our government or the way we wanted to be governed, and we had no personal or collective freedom.
Even today, few in Argentina  dare to speak out in favour of the self-determination of the Falkland Islanders. Last year, when a group of 17 Argentine intellectuals signed a manifesto calling for the islanders to have a voice in their future, they were accused of treason or ridiculed.
Next week, on March 10 and 11, almost all of the adult Falkland Islanders will choose to remain British.
David Cameron’s Government will claim that this exercise of self-determination strengthens Britain’s resolve in supporting the current situation and refusing to negotiate the sovereignty issue with Argentina.
Meanwhile, the administration of Cristina Kirchner, Argentina’s president, will declare the referendum void of any legal power, claiming that Britain’s refusal to follow the UN’s calls for bilateral talks is another example of its scorn for international law.
I know that democracy is not only the right to vote, but of being called to express one’s opinion and to have that opinion respected. I treasure it because I have not always experienced it – I lived under a dictatorship which, without consulting anybody, sent me to fight a war in which I could have died or may have been forced to kill other human beings and live for ever with that guilt.
The war is over, but for the  veterans it will never end. More Falklands veterans both in  Britain and Argentina have committed suicide than those who actually died in the 1982 war.Read More HERE

Roberto and myself have one thing in common we have both fought a War and survived but are still living the War on a daily basis, I wish Roberto all the best, he did his duty I did mine.