The Malvinas Islands are probably better known in the English-speaking world by their British name, the Falklands. 

The holiday is a tribute to Argentina’s fallen soldiers in the Falklands War, which began with the Argentine occupation of the Islands on April 2nd 1982. 

The war lasted 74 days, with 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders killed. 

Malvinas Day was first introduced in 2001. It replaced the June 10th “Sovereignty over Malvinas Islands” Day, which until then had commemorated the appointment of Luis Vernet as governor of the Islands by Buenos Aires in 1832. 

The Argentine government is continuing with its efforts to identify the remains of all it’s fallen troops on the islands. Speaking at the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the 649 fallen soldiers on April 2nd 2019, Secretary for Human Rights Claudio Avruj said “this… …is a very important and emotional event, which adds to the valuable and significant work carried out by the humanitarian mission to identify our Malvinas heroes”.