Hebe Pastor de Bonafini, who died on Sunday at the age of 93, had become the “Voice” of the “Mothers of Plaza de Mayo” who challenged the Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983) tirelessly demanding, even under their windows, news of their “disappeared”.
Initiated on April 30, 1977, her weekly round in Buenos Aires in front of the Casa Rosada, headquarters of the executive, dressed in a white scarf on her head reminiscent of diapers and embroidered with the name of a “disappeared” (some 30,000 according to humanitarian organizations), put the spotlight on the meeting.
“Dearest Hebe, Mother of Plaza de Mayo, world symbol of the struggle for human rights, pride of Argentina. God reminded you of National Sovereignty Day (a holiday in Argentina, editor’s note)… It must not be a coincidence. Just Thank you and goodbye,” Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner said on Sunday.
Shortly after, Alejandra Bonafini announced in a statement that her mother had died at the Italian Hospital of La Plata, in the province of Buenos Aires, where she had been hospitalized a few days ago.
years of struggle
Born on December 4, 1928 in Ensenada, near La Plata in the bosom of a modest family, married at the age of 14 and having known only primary school, she was 39 when the “Dirty War” upended her existence and that of her three sons.
In 1977 his two sons were kidnapped, Jorge Omar (February 8), Raúl Alfredo (December 6) and then Jorge’s wife, María Elena Bugnone Cepeda (May 25, 1978). Hebe Pastor de Bonafini doesn’t know who to turn to when the mother of a “disappeared” person offers her to join a rally in front of the Casa Rosada. It is the beginning of a fight that only death, he says, can stop.
Outre quarante années de rassemblement, Hebe de Bonafini et les “Madres de Plaza de Mayo” avaient à leur actif 25 années de “marches de résistance” de 24 heures d’affiliée, jusqu’au 26 janvier 2006 où elles reconnaissent être vaincues par l ‘age.
Today, the “Mothers”, headed by the combative Hebe Pastor de Bonafini since 1979, still meet on Thursdays in front of the Plaza de Mayo obelisk, but now to denounce all forms of oppression, a fact that, in 1986, caused their split .
The association of the “Mothers of Plaza de Mayo-foundational line”, chaired by Estela Barnes de Carlotto, is dedicated purely to the defense of human rights, while that of Hebe de Bonafini is more politicized.
various controversies
After rejoicing at the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States, he reacted to the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, saying that “colonialist France, which left countries in ruins, had no moral authority to speak of criminality.” . terrorism, ask the Algerians, Haitians and their dozens of colonies”.
A defender of the Chávez and later Maduro regimes in Venezuela, she had also become a controversial figure in Argentina for her unconditional support for the Kirchner spouses.
Source: BFM TV
