'We had orders not to kill'

Poder Naval

What was the recovery of the Malvinas like from the perspective of an Argentine military officer?

Jacinto Batista is the symbol of the reconquest of the Malvinas Islands by the Argentines on April 2, 1982. Jacinto told his story to journalist Guido Braslavsky, from the newspaper Clarín, on April 1, 2002.

He was wearing a wool cap. His face was blackened with combat paint. He carried the weapon close to his body in his right hand and with the other arm he indicated to the English prisoners to remain in line with their hands raised. Jacinto Eliseo Batista is the protagonist of this photo above that traveled the world, becoming a symbol of the taking of Puerto Argentino, on April 2, 1982.

Twenty years later (the article was written in March 2002), approaching his 52nd birthday and less than two months after retiring after 35 years in the Navy, Petty Officer Batista lights his fourth cigarette on a humid morning in Punta Alta and affirms :“I am not homesick for the Falklands. It was a stage in my life and my career. I received an order and followed it. "That's what the State pays me for.".

Probably not all members of the Amphibious Command Group that surrendered to the British behave in the same way as this Columbus-born man, who says he has no interest in returning to the Falklands as a guest or tourist. However, he affirms that “if the State tells me to recover them again I will be there.” Because, like all elite soldiers, Batista is made of a special wood. Amphibious commandos are at the same time divers, paratroopers, commandos and reconnaissance specialists on land and water. They learn to endure everything. They are soldiers trained for war, the exact opposite of many young people who did not choose the Malvinas as their destination, nor do they live in a war and die in it.

Maybe that's why Batista was never afraid. Not even at the beginning when they embarked in Puerto Belgrano aboard the frigate “Santísima Trinidad”, heading in an unknown direction, even with everyone's suspicion that a real operation was being carried out in the Malvinas.

“As soon as we were on the high seas, they gave us the necessary guidance to carry out the mission. We disembarked on April 1, shortly after 9:00 p.m. I was the boat's guide and, from the shoreline, the explorer. We only had night vision equipment and I was the one wearing it, who was ahead for about 200m.”

“We were sure that the English were not expecting us. We walked all night. The targets were the Royal Marines barracks and the governor's house. We had orders not to kill, because the plan was possibly to take the islands and negotiate a withdrawal.

“We separated into two groups. I went to the barracks, but I didn't find anything because the marines were outside guarding the targets. There we raised the Argentine flag for the first time. The group that went to the governor's house, however, encountered resistance and constant shots were heard. “It was almost daylight and the resistance persisted. The first Englishman I met was a sniper with a Mauser rifle. I took it apart. When we met at the house, the situation was almost under control.

The only casualty in this action – the first death of the war – was Captain Pedro Giachino. “When I arrived I was hurt. He had entered the house and, upon leaving, he was knocked down by a soldier who was behind a nearby tree line. I asked him: “What happened to you, Pedro,” and I touched his head. He was conscious, but very pale, he had lost a lot of blood and was dying.

Batista does not remember at what point during that frenetic day the photographer Rafael Wollman took a photograph with the English prisoners. He knows, however, that this image is a relentless portrait of the old imperial lion's wounded pride. “On June 14, they had to look for me to take a photo with my arms raised,” he imagines with a smile.

But the cable was not in Puerto Argentino on the day of the fall: “On April 2 we returned to the continent.” Batista never returned to the islands, but this almost happened when an infiltration mission was planned during the British landing, but the Hercules that would carry them suffered a breakdown on the runway.

“The British were no better than us. They had more means and more support. From Americans and Chileans. But if Argentina had had the firm conviction to fight…” says Batista, leaving the phrase in the middle, like a question.

Source: Clarín