Tens of thousands of people gathered in the famous Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires and elsewhere in Argentina on Friday to mark the 47th anniversary of the 1976 coup.
Scores of Argentines singing “Never Again” gathered for Truth and Justice Memorial Day to commemorate the thousands of victims and those who disappeared under the military dictatorship.
This side of the story also returned to the news, with the nomination for the last Oscars of Santiago Miter’s “Argentina, 1985”, a feature film that tells the story of the first trial of commanders of the junta, in power until 1983.
A statement in the crowded Plaza de Mayo recalled the threat to Argentina’s democracy after the assassination of Vice President Cristina Kirchner on September 1, 2022.
“It’s impossible to downplay a Magnicide trial. The solidarity and disgust from leaders across Latin America, the United States, Europe and from Pope Francis have shown that the world fully understands the gravity of what happened,” he said.
Since the 1987 amnesty laws were repealed in 2003, 1,115 former soldiers and former police officers of the dictatorship have been convicted, according to Argentina’s crimes against humanity prosecutors.
“Argentina was able to face such a painful process as that of the coup d’etat, genocide and torture, and this is an example recognized worldwide,” Interior Minister told Radio Destape Eduardo de Pedro, son of political activists who under who were murdered dictatorship.
“We must preserve the memory, otherwise history will repeat itself,” demanded the president of the grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto, on Radio 750. His organization has so far managed to restore the identities of 132 people who were killed by the dictatorship abducted babies from their imprisoned or missing parents.
Dictator Jorge Videla, who was initially pardoned by right-wing ex-President Carlos Menem, was sentenced to life imprisonment after this systematic plan to steal babies came to light. He died in custody in 2013.
According to human rights organizations, between 1976 and 1983 around 30,000 people died or disappeared under the Argentine dictatorship.