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When it comes to the Malvinas Islands, a name is more than just a name to Argentinians [1]
['Global Voices Latin America']
Date: 2025-07-24
When the Argentinian science fiction comic series “The Eternaut” first became available on the streaming service Netflix, translator Daiana Estefanía Díaz published an explanation on her LinkedIn page for why people around the world would read and hear Malvinas Islands instead of Falkland Islands, in every language, when referring to the disputed archipelago in the Southern Atlantic.
The islands are famously at the center of a century-long feud between the United Kingdom and Argentina, which led to a bloody war in 1982, that lasted 10 weeks and killed more than 900 people, 649 of them Argentinians. Still an open wound for many in the South American nation, it also became an updated feature of the original story from the graphic novel that was adapted into a series.
The original story by Héctor Germán Oesterheld with artwork by Francisco Solano López, a classic in the Argentinian comics world, was written in 1957. Now, almost 70 years later, creator Bruno Stagnaro decided to add local details closer to contemporary society in his new production. And so, Juan Salvo, the Eternaut hero who travels through timelines trying to save his country from an alien menace, played by Ricardo Darín, became a veteran of the Malvinas conflict.
Díaz explained her choice to keep Malvinas in her translation into English:
Era la única opción viable, no tuve la menor duda. No solo porque jamás se me ocurriría usar en ese contexto y en una producción argentina un nombre que no sea Malvinas, sino además porque sé que ningún argentino, sea real o ficcional, las llamaría de otro modo.
It was the only viable option, I never doubted. Not only because it would never occur to me to use any name other than Malvinas in that context and in an Argentine production, but also because I know that an Argentinian, either real or fictional, would never call them any other way.
The translator also suggested the islands’ name should be Malvinas in all other languages available on the streaming service. Díaz said it was one thing explaining to other translators how to work on words for truco plays (a popular, traditional card game in South America that appears in the first episode) but the Malvinas was “a much deeper issue.”
Les conté que allá también nevó en 1982, que ese avión del ejército peruano no aparece por casualidad, que cuando dicen “las islas’’ hablan de esas dos y muchísimas cosas más. Qué, quién, cuándo, cómo, dónde y por qué. Es un tema sensible y muy presente que nos atraviesa en el ámbito político, histórico, cultural y social… Nos asienta en un lado de la historia del que no nos vamos a mover.
I told them it also snowed there in 1982, that this plane from the Peruvian Army doesn't show up [on the show] by chance, that when they say “the islands’’ they are talking about those two, but also about many other things. What, who, when, how, where and why. This is a sensitive issue, still very present, that crosses us in the political, historical, cultural and social scopes…It seats us on a side of history from where we are not going to move.
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Historical background
On April 2, 2025, officially Day of the Veterans and Fallen of the Malvinas War, Argentinian President Javier Milei’s speech marked a shift in the Argentinian government’s historical position over the issue, according to local press. He defended the right to self-determination for the island’s inhabitants, saying he hoped they would choose to be Argentinian. Under his country’s constitution, however, they already are.
According to the United Nations, the Malvinas/Falklands have a population of 3,662 over 12.173 square kilometres (4.7 square miles), administrated by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The UN Special Committee on Decolonization has discussed the issue since 1964 and issues annual resolutions.
The dispute over the territory has lasted for almost two centuries. Argentinians claim it as part of their Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands. The country maintains that the Malvinas were ruled by Spain until 1816, when Argentina became independent, which Argentinians support led to it automatically inheriting the islands as part of their territory. In 1833, however, the British started to control the archipelago, which was only briefly interrupted by the war in 1982.
At the time, with the military dictatorship pressured by an economic and political crisis, then president General Leopoldo Galtieri decided to launch the operation as an attempt to reverse the game. It was the only international warlike conflict in which Argentina was a key figure during the 20th century, says a publication from the Conicet (National Scientific and Technical Research Council). After 74 days of war, 255 British people, three islanders and 649 Argentinians were killed. As journalist Leila Guerriero wrote in a story published by El País newspaper in 2020:
Muchos fueron enterrados en un cementerio de las islas y permanecieron allí sin identificar durante décadas.
Many were buried in a graveyard in the islands and remained there without identification for decades.
An article written in 2021 by Daniel Filmus, then secretary for the Malvinas and Southern Atlantic, and published on Argentina’s Foreign Ministry website, said:
Argentina protestó inmediatamente frente al acto de fuerza británico y jamás renunció a su soberanía. Si la controversia existe hasta el día de hoy, es por la negativa británica a resolverlo.
Argentina protested immediately following the British act of force [in the 19th century] and has never renounced to its sovereignty. If the controversy still lives on to this day, it is because of the British refusal to solve it.
According to a BBC article from 2007, former UK prime minister Tony Blair once said “going to war over the Falklands took ‘political courage’ and was ‘the right thing to do’.” Last year, the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s official account on X (formerly Twitter) posted a video stating:
The Falkland Islands are a valued part of the British family. pic.twitter.com/QytW3zsxI6 — Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) February 21, 2024
A cultural symbol
When the war broke out in 1982, renowned Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges said it was like having two bald men fighting over a comb. But, as the explanation written by Díaz, The Eternaut’s translator, demonstrates, to Argentinians, the islands are a matter of identity sewn into their culture.
Over the years, the political slogan “The Malvinas are Argentinian” (“Las Malvinas son Argentinas”) spread throughout the country on public signs, over T-shirts, football stadiums, music, and turned into a cultural reference of its own.
The apex was reached two years after the end of the conflict, with Argentina facing England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup. A 25-year-old Diego Armando Maradona scored two historic goals within four minutes; the first one was the iconic “hand of God,” and the second one was named “the goal of the century.” Argentina eliminated England and moved on to win its second World Cup title.
Although saying before the match that it was just football, avoiding the political aspect of the match, later on, Maradona would declare:
Era como ganarle a un país, no a un equipo de fútbol. Habían muerto muchos pibes argentinos; los habían matado como a pajaritos. Esto era una revancha, ¡un carajo iba a ser un partido más!
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https://globalvoices.org/2025/07/24/when-it-comes-to-the-malvinas-islands-a-name-is-more-than-just-a-name-to-argentinians/
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