Looking back today, after twenty-five years, and thinking about the state Slovenia was in then, we come to realize that those days and weeks were truly great and important. Things were chaotic as the old structures of Yugoslavia were falling apart, the inflation grew higher by the day, the state was heavily in debt, workers were on strike, the intellectuals demanded more freedom, and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia wanted to maintain the power and unity of the state by adopting amendments. While the Yugoslavian Army thought it was its mission to prevent the secession, we only had the Territorial Defence, which felt like the struggle of David against Goliath. But the story ended just like the one in the Bible – David won. The circumstances at the time allowed the events to evolve the way they did. The government called a plebiscite and the Slovenian people decided in favour of INDEPENDENCE. Many upstanding Slovenians put at stake their influence and unselfishly expressed the strong need for freedom in the name of the Independence. Among these, I would specifically mention three great fellow countrymen who, supported by other people, of course, invested their best efforts for SLOVENIA TO PROCLAIM ITS INDEPENDENCE.  The first among them is Ivan Oman, who, defending the peasantry, founded the Farmers’ Union and thus acquired support from many people, mostly farmers, who stood up for their rights. They used their common sense, as it is often said. The other two are Dr Jože Pučnik and Lojze Petrle. However, we should not forget many other Slovenians who also contributed to the independence of Slovenia. 

So how did this matter of independence affect us Slovenians who lived in a different part of the world and followed events by watching the news and listening to comments from our friends and acquaintances from Buenos Aires? Since our fellow-countrymen lived scattered all over the countryside, we delivered them the signing sheets so they could express their support for the plebiscite. The interest was enormous and the expectations got us all exhilarated even though we had only a vague idea where was it all going. We were unaware of what the risk would be if we stood up to the Yugoslavian People’s Army, which was then known to be one of the strongest in Europe. At the end, God helped our people in achieving their goal – defeating Goliath. As things always seem different from a distance, we ecstatically supported the Territorial Defence in the painfully unequal battle and prayed for its victory. Looking back, we cannot help but wonder how did it happen that everything ended so well. The Yugoslavian People’s Army had the power to turn Slovenia into dust. But God did not let that happen. So, when looking back at the days of fear and uncertainty about the outcome, we are grateful to God for his help and to all those who directly contributed to the events. Living so far away, we did not have much chance to come to the aid, but we had the strongest weapon – our prayers. We have been praying and will continue to pray for a free and independent Slovenia. So help us God!