The United Kingdom celebrates Tuesday, June 14 the 40th anniversary of the
"liberation"
of the Falklands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic under British control, at the end of a lightning war with Argentina whose consequences are still felt today. today.
The blitzkrieg between the United Kingdom and Argentina for 74 days in 1982 following the invasion of the territory on April 2 left more than 900 dead: 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British and three inhabitants of island.
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The Royal British Legion has planned a memorial ceremony at the site of the National Memorial Arboretum in central England to honor veterans, bereaved families and civilian support personnel to British troops.
This ceremony will be broadcast live on the Internet in the afternoon, parallel to that planned in the Falklands, in the capital Port Stanley.
Nothing had been organized in the UK or the Falklands to remember the invasion, but a series of events are organized throughout the year, notably this June 14.
This day when the Argentine forces had surrendered is celebrated as "liberation day" in the archipelago, where it is a public holiday.
The surrender was announced the same day in Parliament by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who had deployed nearly 30,000 soldiers to liberate the archipelago, under British control since 1833 but still claimed by Argentina today.
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The victorious troops were greeted on their return to the UK by a tide of Union Jacks, the national flag, rekindling the country's imperial past and helping the previously struggling Tory leader win re-election with flying colors in 1983 Forty years later, if for Argentina the Falklands war is experienced as a still raw wound, it is presented on the British side as a "liberation" having made it possible to offer prosperity to this territory of the South Atlantic, located 400 kilometers from the Argentine coast and almost 13,000 km from London.
But among the veterans, the wounds are still raw.
"For many of those who fought so far from home, the physical and mental injuries suffered during this conflict affect them every day - not just on the anniversaries"
of the conflict, said the association Help for Heroes which comes to them in help, lamenting the
“lack of adequate mental health support”
.
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In 2013, voters in the Falklands voted almost unanimously in a referendum in favor of British sovereignty.
Since 2020, the archipelago has been completely free of anti-personnel mines that had been placed during the war.