Las 24 horas de las Malvinas
| Las 24 horas de las Malvinas | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Telethon |
| Presented by | Pinky Cacho Fontana |
| Country of origin | Argentina |
| Original language | Spanish |
| No. of episodes | 1 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 1440 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Argentina Televisora Color |
| Release | May 8 – May 9, 1982 |
Las 24 horas de las Malvinas[1] ("The 24 Hours of the Malvinas/Falklands") was a 24-hour television program broadcast in 1982 to raise funds for the Argentine armed forces who went to fight in the Falklands War.
The program attracted scrutiny over how the money raised was handled; although the destination of the money raised could not be clearly established,[2][3] it is generally believed from the statements of people involved that either the whole sum or a large part of it never reached its destination.[4]
Overview
The program was hosted for a continuous 24-hour period by presenters Lidia Elsa Satragno, better known as "Pinky," and Jorge "Cacho" Fontana. The program, produced by Argentina Televisora Color (ATC), exalted the patriotic spirit of the audience, and brought together dozens of actors who donated personal belongings, and donations from viewers were received that were used to raise funds for the men who had gone to fight in the Falkland Islands.
Among the figures who participated in the broadcast were Arturo Puig, Andrea del Boca, Susana Giménez, Diego Maradona, Daniel Passarella, Mariano Mores, Mirtha Legrand, Libertad Lamarque, Norma Aleandro, Haydée Padilla, Jorge Porcel, Santiago Gómez Cou, Pierina Dealessi and Ricardo Darín, among others.
As detailed in her work by Mirta Varela, researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET):
Toda la puesta en escena pertenece al armado de un gran espectáculo que da cuenta de la especificidad de la televisión como aparato para la producción de hechos, productora de realidad, que permite la construcción de un programa excepcional para los tiempos excepcionales que corren. Un programa que interrumpe la grilla televisiva para transmitir en vivo 24 horas seguidas. El formato se asemeja a los programas ómnibus caracterizados por su larga duración, que protagonizaban la pantalla de los fines de semana durante las décadas del '60 y '70.
[The entire staging is part of a grand spectacle that captures the specific nature of television as a device for producing events, a producer of reality, allowing for the construction of an exceptional program for these exceptional times. A program that interrupts the television schedule to broadcast live 24 hours a day. The format resembles the long-running omnibus programs that dominated weekend television during the 1960s and 1970s.]— Mirta Varela, CONICET researcher, [5]
Soccer player Diego Maradona donated a check for $L100,000,000 (US$7,117 at the time),[1][6] which was delivered by his then-representative Jorge Cyterszpiler. In addition, jewelry, coats, and other items were collected. At the end of the program, a total of $22,874,769,000 pesos ley (equivalent to US$ 1,628,097 at the time) was delivered, which — integrated into the Fondo Patriótico Malvinas Argentinas ("Argentine Malvinas Patriotic Fund")[2][3] which had been created by Decree No. 759[7]— the majority of the press and the public believe never reached its destination, based on interviews with people involved in the broadcast.
In an interview in 2005, Vice Commodore Juan Carlos Rogani, in charge of managing donations for the war, acknowledged that objects that were considered "of no commercial value", mostly those that were tokens of affection from the Argentine population towards the soldiers fighting in the war, were discarded.[8][9][10] He stated:
Se decidió que los objetos sin valor comercial fueran a la basura. Las cartas, los cuadritos, las bufandas no eran vitales, tendrían Prioridad Número 100. Despachar un Hércules para llevar esas cositas no valia la pena, no justificaba el costo de la operación.
[It was decided that items of no commercial value would go in the trash. Letters, paintings, and scarves weren't vital; they would receive Priority Number 100. Sending a Hercules to transport those little things wasn't worth the effort; it didn't justify the cost of the operation.][3]
References
- ^ a b Las 24 horas de las Malvinas [Resumen de la transmisión] (incompleto) (parte I) (in Spanish). Archivo Prisma – via YouTube.
- ^ a b Genoud, Diego (1 April 2012). "El enigma del Fondo Patriótico". La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 December 2017.
- ^ a b c Calvo, Pablo (3 April 2005). "El oro de Malvinas: cómo se esfumó la mayor colecta de la historia argentina". Clarín (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 September 2017.
- ^ Un Tiempo Despues - Fondo Patriótico Islas Malvinas parte 1 (in Spanish) – via YouTube.
- ^ Varela, Mirta (2 November 2014). "La guerra de Malvinas en la televisión argentina. Una aproximación al análisis del archivo histórico de Canal 7" (PDF).
- ^ Zanoni, Leandro (2006). Vivir en los medios: Maradona off the record. Marea Editorial. ISBN 978-987-22181-7-1. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
- ^ "Decreto de creación del Fondo Patriótico" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
- ^ "Denuncian mal uso de donación para la guerra de las Malvinas". ABC Color (in Spanish). 4 April 2005.
- ^ ""Las 24 horas de las Malvinas": cómo fue la colecta televisiva para los soldados que nunca llegó". Información Periodística (in Spanish). 31 March 2022.
- ^ Ceballos, Susana (2 April 2022). "Las 24 horas por Malvinas: el reloj de Susana Giménez, los 40 kilos de oro y un Mercedes Benz abandonado". Infobae (in Spanish).