Hebe Pastor de Bonafini, co-founder of Plaza de Mayo Mothers, The organization, which was the flagship in the struggle to defend human rights during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-83), He died this Sunday at the age of 93. Minister Alberto Fernández, with whom he had a strained relationship, decided. three days of national mourning. The Executive Branch’s text stated that “the Government and the Argentine people have recognized it as an international symbol of the search for memory, truth and justice for the thirty thousand disappeared.” Bonafini added that it “shone a light in the middle of the dark night” of the military regime and “paved the way for the revival of democracy forty years ago”. Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also reacted immediately. “Dear Hebe, God called you on the day of National Sovereignty… no coincidence. Just say thank you and we’ll see you all the time.“.
The late leader was born on December 4, 1928, in a working-class neighborhood in the town of Ensenada, Buenos Aires. At the age of 14 he married Humberto Alfredo Bonafini, with whom he had three children: Jorge Omar, Raúl Alfredo and María Alejandra. The first two disappeared in 1977 and 1978, respectively. She joined a group of beginner mothers, most of whom had no political experience, meeting at a church in the city of Buenos Aires and trying to reach the Government headquarters, which was occupied by uniformed personnel, to learn about the fate of their loved ones. dear ones She is the first leader of the female group, lily villaflorShe was abducted on December 10, 1977. This void was gradually filled by the sullen Bonafini. His role in the construction of the Plaza de Mayo Mothers was crucial.
In 1981 Madres organized its first. resistance marchin the face of social indifference, cold-blooded to slogans “live view‘ and ‘they got it alive, we want it alive’ began to be heard in Plaza de Mayo and the streets around it. mad. His symbol was the white scarf on his head.
role in democracy
Bonafini articulated the most intransigent stances of a far more heterogeneous human rights movement. After the democratic transition, he raised the tone of his claims. mothers always a stone in the shoes of governments. not even Raul AlfonsinThe first president of the post-dictatorship era, an advocate for the prosecution of former commanders, made gestures of approach to them. After leaving power, no vice president took over the organization until 2003, when Néstor Kirchner took office.
The mothers testified most vehement rejection of impunity laws and amnesties between 1987 and 1991 that precluded the possibility of bringing oppressors to court. In the mid-nineties the group split into two. A sector followed Bonafini. The other to Nora Cortiñas and other mothers who acted heroically during her years of leadership. The break was about personal matters, but also about politics. The street nevertheless found them united, albeit distant.
Kirchnerism found a suitable space 15 years ago to reopen cases against the military. Both factions of Madres welcomed this commitment and at some level became pro-government supporters, especially Bonafini. This approach was not always welcomed. He became a staunch supporter of the current vice president. However, Alberto Fernández had a negative view of his role. His personality has been the object of openly conflicting views since 1983. It was sometimes brutally admired or criticized. However, for over forty years no one has failed to grasp its role and importance. Death found him at a time when the debate about the dictatorship and the disappeared has been revived since the 1985 Argentine film.
Source: Informacion
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