Argentina: memory day canceled, remembering dictatorship despite confinement

Text by: Aude Villiers-Moriamé

In Argentina, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the traditional march in memory of the disappeared from the military dictatorship has been canceled. Thousands of people were tortured and killed between 1976 and 1983, and ordinarily, every March 24, the date of the 1976 coup, Argentines march in memory of the victims. Not this year, but that won't stop Argentina from paying tribute to the missing in another way.

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From our correspondent in Buenos Aires ,

Without demonstration, but not without memory: with this message, human rights associations call on Argentines to pay tribute to the disappeared of the military dictatorship without leaving their homes, since the whole country has been confined since Friday, March 20 .

So instead of parading, Argentines are invited to hang white scarves on their windows and publish their photo on social networks with the hashtag # PañuelosConMemoria (scarves in memory). The white scarf is the symbol of the "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" , who usually walk every Thursday in front of the Argentine presidential palace, in memory of their missing children. Every Thursday for more than forty years, but for the very first time, last Thursday, they did not parade, still due to the coronavirus.

According to human rights associations, nearly 30,000 people, mostly young left-wing activists, were killed or disappeared during the dictatorship, between 1976 and 1983 . A figure regularly questioned by certain conservative sectors of society. The first images of white scarves posted on social networks carry the message " they were well 30,000 ".

Este 24 de marzo, subí a redes sociales fotos con pañuelos blancos, colgalos en tu balcón, puerta o ventana.
No podemos marchar pero la Memoria sigue intacta. # PañuelosConMemoria pic.twitter.com/F7fgm7RSRZ

► Read also: Argentina: what memory of the dictatorship?

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• Argentina
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• History

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