April 2 is a very tragic date, for Argentines in general and for “platenses” in particular. On the one hand, General Leopoldo Galtieri decided to take control of Malvinas Islands by force to salvage his collapsing military dictatorship. The move aimed to seize a nationalistic victory, uniting the populace against a common external enemy and restoring the regime’s reputation through a “successful” patriot. A distracting strategy to gain some kind of popular support. He clearly underestimated the British response. A total of 649 Argentine military personnel died during the 74-day war in 1982. On the other hand, on April 2, 2013, in La Plata there was an unprecedented catastrophic flood, where almost 90 people died, thousands were evacuated from their homes. Daniel Scioli was the governor at the time. Believe it or not, we still don’t know why and how the city became a death trap in just a couple of hours. A date to mourn rather than celebrate. Sigh …
Buenos Aires Times, April 11, 2026