Julio Aro: “Not even dead am I going to abandon my colleagues from Malvinas”

With the presence of the members of the Malvinas Veterans Association of San Pedro and ex-combatant Julio Aro, the solidarity cooking of craft beer was closed, which through the “No Me Olvides” foundation could be carried out through from a group of local brewers.

Aro’s presence in San Pedro enhanced the initiative as he was one of the people who carried out one of the most heartfelt activities after the war and that was to promote the identification of the bodies buried in the Darwin cemetery along with the British Geoffrey Cardozo.

“I am very happy to arrive in San Pedro. I come from Mercedes, from going through the cemetery to greet my parents and today we come to say thank you”, Julio Aro began by highlighting on the air of FM Genesis.

“We come to thank these people who have done a wonderful job together with the veterans; thank you for letting the foundation participate and for making many people happy, for making people from the Malvins, for putting this passion for beer in the hands of the hospital, and that the hospital has its money as it should and through having it, that is a way of making peoples from the Malvins”.

“The foundation “No me Olvides”, the fundamental work is to collect each of the families, search and be able to restore their identity. Not because they died they have to lose their name, so today with great joy we can say that we have 120 identified companions who were under a horrible black granite plaque that said Argentine Soldier only Known by God; that plaque no longer exists, that plaque was changed to a proper name and surname, and today parents have an exact place where they can cry, talk to their son”, he said proudly.

“They don’t go anywhere, they go to where their son is buried,” he said.

“I come from Buenos Aires, from being with forensic anthropology, from being with Virginia Urquiza, from continuing to search.” “I say that the day I die, my drawer has to be bigger than the others, that they help my daughter to bury me. Because the day I die I want them to bury me like this, with my arms outstretched, that means that even if I’m dead I don’t lower my arms for Malvinas, I’m not going to abandon my companions even if I’m dead, “he said excitedly.

“All this that is happening to us is a caress to the soul, because we had to abandon them, because war is like that, and today we were able to recover them. Today we can say, here he is, not because he died he has to lose his name”.

“It’s encouraging, it’s healing, the truth is that it makes me proud and especially when there are a lot of people involved, such as Geoffrey Cardozo,” Aro said.

“Geoffrey keeps writing, keeps asking how he can help. We are invited on February 15 to give a talk at the most important University in London, and we do not talk about whether the islands are Argentine, we talk about the humanitarian part, ”he stressed about his relationship with the British. “Today Geoffrey is family.”

On June 14, 1982, the war ended for the Argentines who were in the Malvinas. From that moment on, an English officer, Geoffrey Cardozo, was in charge of assembling the Darwin Cemetery. But, due to the lack of objects that would allow the identification of the bodies, 122 graves remained that only bore the inscription “Argentine soldier only known by God.” Years later, when the relatives of the fallen visited the islands to say goodbye to their children, brothers and husbands, they had to choose a cross without a name to pray and leave an offering.

Julio Aro, from Mar del Plata, had participated in the war with the 6th Infantry Regiment. When he returned from the islands in 1982, and without several of his companions, Julio felt that he had left a part of himself in the archipelago.

He returned to the islands in 2008 and together with Geoffrey Cardozo they led the initiative to identify each of the bodies buried in that place, thus earning worldwide recognition that led them to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.