Confinamiento en Goose Green

A propósito del tema que saltó en los comentarios de un post, estuve revisando la web a ver qué se dice sobre aquel episodio. Mi primer noticia al respecto la tuve en el libro Invasion 1982, de Graham Bound. Ahí me enteré que luego de una pésima convivencia en los días iniciales de la ocupación argentina, cuando se aproximaba la hora de la verdad el comandante de las fuerzas en Goose Green, Cnl. Italo Piaggi decidió confinar a toda la población civil en la capilla/salón de actos donde por poco mas de un mes quedaron encerrados hombres, mujeres y chicos, sin camas, sin provisiones y sin instalaciones sanitarias adecuadas.

 Ahora leo, sobre el punto:

"When the Argentine forces finally surrendered, the British troops could then release the local inhabitants, who had been rounded up one morning and locked into the community hall for about a month. 114 people, from babies to grand-parents, had been living in the hall in very difficult conditions, and while the battle had raged around them, had sheltered under the floor of the hall in a makeshift bunker." (PetersPenguinPost)

 "At three in the morning, Gerald and Kay Morrison lay in bed in a house they had moved into on the opposite side of the valley from Goose Green, where they had abandoned their cottage because of invading Argentine soldiers. Kay's mother and a friend, who had escaped from occupied Stanley, were sleeping in rooms next door. Almost the entire rest of the population of Goose Green - 111 people - were being held at gunpoint, packed into the community hall where they had been summoned by the Argentines to a meeting, only to be held captive for nearly a month." (Islas Malvinas Online)

"Then after the first Harrier attack they moved us into the social club.The tiny club is like a village hall, with a small games room and bar. Eileen, 61, says: “It was like a refugee camp but everyone pulled together and helped each other out. The children seemed to sense danger — they were ever so good. Sometimes you would see a child crying and you would ask what the matter was and they would say, ‘I’m hungry’ but there were no tantrums. We lived on one meal a day of a cracker, one spoon of beans or spaghetti and a tiny slice of ham. To this day some of the people cannot eat beans because of it.” With just two toilets, one wash basin and no bedding, living conditions quickly became squalid." (The Sun)


Como dije por algún otro lado, las fuerzas argentinas hicieron lo posible para ganrse "corazones y mentes" de los isleños. Esto, junto con los allanamientos a media noche por infantes de marina con perros, imponer de buenas a primeras el peso, y cambiar la mano de circulación son ejemplos clarísimos.