The history of the Argentine Armed Forces seems marked by cycles of pain that repeat themselves under different guises, but with the same result: the loss of young lives and the weakening of national defense . This week, two news items complete a cycle of desolation that Agenda Malvinas has been denouncing as a systematic plan of sovereign dismantling.

The sixth death: Juan Marcos Gonsales and the cry of Tartagal

While the Ministry of Defense attempts to downplay the crisis with statements of commitment, the reality in the provinces is devastating. The discovery of the body of volunteer soldier Juan Marcos Gonsales , from the 28th Mountain Infantry Regiment in Tartagal, Salta , brings to six the number of service members who have died under suspicious circumstances or by suicide in just one month.

Gonsales is not a number; he is the face of a generation of young soldiers in northern Argentina who now survive in poverty . In Tartagal, as in so many garrisons across the country, the uniform no longer protects against poverty. With salaries that don't even cover half of the basic food basket, the economic pressure becomes a labyrinth with no way out, pushing our soldiers to the brink.

The farewell to Sebastiana Barrera: The end of an era of impunity

Almost simultaneously, news broke of the death in Neuquén of Sebastiana Barrera , the mother of Omar Carrasco . The murder of her son in 1994 at the hands of his superiors in Zapala marked the end of mandatory military service. Sebastiana died forgotten by the public, but her figure remains a symbol of the struggle against a system that, at that time, devoured its children through physical violence.

From the crime of the 90s to the abandonment of 2026

The connection between Carrasco and Gonsales is political and strategic. If in the 1990s the crisis was authoritarianism and internal violence, today the enemy is institutional contempt and dismantling .

Yesterday people were killed by action (Carrasco case), today they are left to die by omission, misery and neglect (the exodus of 15,000 troops and the wave of suicides under Milei's government).

In both cases, the result is the dismantling of the Armed Forces. An army that buries its soldiers from hunger or desperation is an army incapable of protecting the South Atlantic and territorial sovereignty .

The death of Gonsales in Salta cannot be understood outside the context of betrayal . A jungle soldier, essential for the surveillance of our borders, is today yet another victim of an austerity program that prioritizes fiscal surplus over human life and national security.

While official discourse is filled with rhetoric about "order," the barracks are emptying due to desertion or are filled with mourning due to neglect. The death of Carrasco's mother reminds us that justice often comes late or not at all; the death of Juan Marcos Gonsales warns us that, if we do not stop this process of destroying the human element, there will be no one left to defend the flag .