Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
The Madres de Plaza de Mayo ( "Mothers of the square of the May Revolution " ) is an organization of Argentine women whose children under the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983 under initially unexplained circumstances "disappeared" ( desaparecidos ). Only gradually turned out that the systematic, secret disappearances of political opponents, part of the so-called Dirty War ( Guerra Sucia ) was the military. Only after the transition to democracy was demonstrated by in official investigations that up to 30,000 people were murdered in this way. The mothers were among the few people in Argentina who protested publicly. They came by themselves in danger as their first chairman also disappeared without a trace.
Survey
The name refers to the Plaza de Mayo, the square in front of the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, on which the women met since the military dictatorship to protest against the injustice of enforced disappearance, which ripped apart their families and to educate the deeds and punishment guilty to demand. Every Thursday, for the first time on 30 April 1977 they circumnavigate silent for half an hour the place because protests were banned at the time standing up. The worn in mourning and protest white headscarf Madres became known symbol of their resistance and struggle for justice. Nélida Gómez de Navajas was one of the initiators.
The first leader of the Madres, Azucena Villaflor de Vicenti was, they " disappeared " like many other Argentines. Her successor and current leader Hebe de Bonafini.
The amnesty laws and pardons, especially the finale law and the law on the duty of obedience, which had long protected the military, were abolished during the tenure of the 2003 ruling to 2007, President Néstor Kirchner and Argentina's Constitutional Court for constitutional and international law and therefore null and void explained. The Madres now operate as a national institution has its own newspaper, a book store, a radio station and a university. On the 30th anniversary of the now elderly mothers were honored with a ceremony in Buenos Aires, as well as numerous events.