LAURA BALLATORE
The headquarters of Secondary School 1 “Crucero ARA General Belgrano” will be the scene today at 8 o’clock of the commemorative ceremony of one of the events that marked the Argentines during the war for the recovery of the Malvinas Islands. This is the sinking of the cruiser General Belgrano on May 2, 1982. In the attack, 323 Argentine sailors died, including twelve from Jujuy. Then, at 3:30 p.m., the central event of the evocation will take place on Yaraví Avenue. The Jujeños who fell in this action were Humberto César Alemán, Omar Andrés Chaile, Héctor Hugo Diez Gómez, Raúl Aristóbulo Farfán, Teodoro Laguna, Justo Eustaquio Mamani, Antenor Sajama, Ramón Elías Salazar, Roberto Sancho, Jorge Rubén Torres, Roberto Antonio Úzqueda and Fernando Fabián Zarzoso.
Captain Héctor Elías Bonzo was the last commander of the cruiser. Born in the Buenos Aires town of General Rodríguez on August 11, 1932, he died on April 22, 2009 in the city of Buenos Aires.
In an interview given in 2007 to the newspaper Clarín, Bonzo was categorical in expressing that the sinking of the Belgrano was not a war crime. “It was an act of war. The acts of those who are in the war, such as the submarine attack, are not a crime. It was an act that was unfortunately and unfortunately legal. The crime is the war. We were on the front lines and we suffered the consequences. From the 30th I had orders to fire and if the submarine that had surfaced due to a breakdown had been in front of me, I would shoot at it with the fifteen guns until it sank. Calling it a crime was a psychological action of war.
He also recounted the moments before the shipwreck. “I was climbing towards the bridge when I was surprised by the first blow that hit the aft engine room. I realized it was a torpedo because of the acrid smell of the explosive. The ship stopped suddenly and shuddered as if It rose into the air. I reached the bridge four seconds later and at that moment the second torpedo hit. A column of water rose 20 meters and when it fell they informed me that there were fifteen meters left from the bow. The ship was tilting at one degree per minute. There was no broken glass on the bridge, but all the instruments were dead. After four minutes I ordered the rafts to be launched into the water… After ten minutes I still hoped to save the boat. Totally dark, with a fire, oil and steam coming out of the pipes. It was hell. Breakdown control informed me that the situation was irreversible, the water was up to their knees. At 4:23 p.m. I called out. At 4:35 p.m., with the ship evacuated, I go down from the bridge to the main deck. There was 35 degrees of abrasion, the water touched the inclined side with the hull sunk nine meters into the sea. There were two extra rafts on deck that I was freeing by cutting the ropes with a knife I found on the floor. Suddenly I hear a voice behind me in the twilight of the afternoon: come on, sir commander. I thought I was going crazy, it couldn’t be that there was a man left on board. I turn around and see a human figure, with a hood. I didn’t know who he was, later I found out that he was non-commissioned officer Barrionuevo. I yelled at him everything: jump into the water, it’s your duty. He answered me: no sir, if you don’t jump, neither will I. When I repeated the order and he was still there I told him: let’s go to the bow and see if anyone is left. We didn’t find anyone and we returned to the center. I told him: throw yourself in, I promise you I’ll throw myself in later. We tied ropes, blankets and clothing to go down the side of the inclined hull. At that time it was easier to die than to live, but I was more useful alive than dead. He jumped and then I did. I swam eighty meters and they put me on a raft. I was left lying on the floor exhausted. At 5:00 p.m., a corporal told me: sir, the ship is sinking. “I looked out and I could see the torpedo hitting the side of the cruiser that went into the water.”
Bonzo was the last to abandon the ship which was attacked by two torpedoes launched by the British nuclear submarine Conqueror.
