Death of Hebe de Bonafini, constant bearer of the Mothers of the Place de Mai
Died on Sunday at the age of 93, she was the voice of the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo who defied the military dictatorship (1976-1983) to demand news of the disappearances.
Bonafini’s Hebe in 1998.
AFP
Launched on April 30, 1977, their weekly patrol in Buenos Aires in front of the Casa Rosada (Pink House, headquarters of the administration), wearing a white headdress reminiscent of swaddling clothes, embroidered with the name of the missing person (some 30,000 people, according to aid organizations), over military rule. Attracted attention.
“Dear Hebe, mother of the Plaza de Mayo, universal symbol of the struggle for human rights, pride of Argentina. God reminded you of the National Sovereignty Day (a public holiday in Argentina)… It should not be a coincidence. Thank you and goodbye,” Argentina Vice President Cristina Kirchner said on Sunday.
A short time later, Alejandra Bonafini announced in a statement that her mother had died in the Italian hospital La Plata in the province of Buenos Aires, where she had been admitted a few days earlier. The organization, which he chaired for more than four decades, said Sunday evening “his ashes will rest at the Place de Mai”.
National mourning
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez hailed her as a “tireless fighter for human rights” and ordered three days of national mourning in her memory.
On Twitter, Bolivian President Evo Morales said he was deeply saddened and shocked by the news. “His tireless struggle against dictatorships for memory, truth and justice is an example for new generations.”
Born on December 4, 1928 in Ensenada, near La Plata, into a modest family, married at 14 and having only attended elementary school, when he was 39, the Guerra Sucia (Dirty War) disrupted his life and that of his three children.
In 1977, two of his sons were abducted, Jorge Omar (February 8), Raul Alfredo (December 6) and later Jorge’s wife María Elena Pugnon Cepeda (May 25, 1978). When the mother of a missing man asks him to join a rally in front of the Casa Rosada, Hebe Pastor de Bonafini doesn’t know who to turn to. This is the beginning of a fight that only death can stop.
In addition to forty years of meetings, Hebe de Bonafini and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo held twenty-five consecutive twenty-four-hour “resistance marches” until January 26, 2006, they admitted. overcome by age.
Today, since 1979 the Mothers, led by Bonafini’s militant Hebe Pastor, gather on Thursdays in front of the obelisk in the Plaza de Mayo, but now to denounce all forms of oppression, which caused their split in 1986.
The founding order of the Mothers of the Place de Mai—headed by Estela Barnes de Carloto—is entirely devoted to the defense of human rights, while Hebe de Bonafini’s organization is more political.
Controversial
Rejoicing over the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, he responded to the deadly attack on the French satirical weekly “Charlie Hebdo” in January 2015, believing that “the country is not moral for a corrupt colonial France.” Authority on Criminal Terrorism Just ask Algerians, Haitians and its dozens of colonies.
A defender of the Chávez and Maduro regimes in Venezuela, he has also become a controversial figure in Argentina for his unwavering support for the Kirchner spouses.
The foundation he led, Rêves solidaires des Mères, became under Nestor’s leadership, then an NGO with 6,000 employees, receiving a total of 129 million euros from the state, especially for the construction of social housing and hospitals. .
In 2017, a scandal involving his power of attorney suspected of money laundering embroiled him, his daughter Alejandra Bonafini, the foundation’s then-director, and several government officials. He later denounced the political “manipulation” of President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), whom he described as “the enemy”.
AFP
Did you find an error?Please let us know.
“Avid gamer. Social media geek. Proud troublemaker. Thinker. Travel fan. Problem solver.”