“More than ever, never again!” : tens of thousands of Argentinians demonstrated on Sunday March 24, the day of remembrance of the victims of the dictatorship (1976-83).
For long hours, the center of Buenos Aires was paralyzed, several avenues leading to the emblematic Plaza de Mayo teeming with human tides, in one of the most popular gatherings in recent years, on this "Memory Day" , noted journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Other marches were planned in provincial towns.
Aerial view of the demonstration against the coup d'état in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Sunday March 24, 2024. © Emiliano Lasalvia, AFP
This March 24 commemorates the 1976 coup d'état bringing the military junta to power, which left 30,000 people dead or missing, according to a report by human rights organizations.
A report contested by the government
An assessment now more and more openly contested by the executive of President Javier Milei (he speaks of less than 9,000), and his vice-president Victoria Villaruel, close to military circles (daughter and niece of officers, one of whom was worried for his role under the dictatorship).
Contested, in the name of a "complete truth", of "memory and justice for all", reference to the victims of the far-left guerrillas of the 70s. A "war", therefore, between State and guerrillas, with its “excess”, more than a dictatorship, according to this reading of power.
“Really 30,000!”, “Everything is stored in memory!” "Yes to memory, no to fear!", "Yes to rights, no to the right", banners and placards expressed on Sunday, alongside portraits of the missing held up at arm's length.
To mark this "Memory Day", the government released a twelve-minute video, in which it sets out "its version" of the dictatorship's record, talks about the victims of the ex-guerrillas, and once again contests the record. of the 30,000 victims. He notably cites in this sense a former guerrilla, who affirms that he himself created the figure of 30,000.
In Buenos Aires, Sunday March 24, 2024, demonstrators recall the toll of 30,000 dead and missing during the 1976 coup d'état. © Luis Robayo, AFP
“We reject the government's negationism, and the apologism of state terrorism. There were indeed 30,000 of them!”, replied human rights activist and 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Perez Esquivel (92 years old) on Sunday. the crowd gathered in Place de Mayo.
“A government that offends us”, regrets Estela de Carlotto
“Today more than ever, we must defend memory and take to the streets in the context of violence carried out by this government,” Maria Gianni, a 31-year-old demonstrator, told AFP. “We must support these Mothers and Grandmothers (of the disappeared) who fought in their time.”
These Mothers, and the survivors of the Grandmothers, are the stars of March 24 every year, like Estela de Carlotto (93 years old), founder of the Grandmothers, mother of a missing person, and who in 2014 found his grandson, one of the "stolen babies" under the dictatorship.
Also read: Babies stolen in Argentina: 36 years later, a woman finds her grandson
“We are not enemies of anyone,” she assured Sunday. “But faced with a government that offends us (...), the people are clearer than ever.”
Before telling the crowd, a few meters from the Casa Rosada (presidency): “We continue to demand, to ask where the bodies of our missing are.”
“We are living a moment of remembrance and remembrance so that this never happens again to any Argentinian, but we regret having a government that does not understand us, that does not defend us; on the contrary, it threatens us,” Estela de Carlotto then told AFP.
Since the resumption in 2006 of trials for crimes under the dictatorship – after an amnesty period in the 1990s – 1,176 people have been convicted, 661 are currently in detention, and 79 proceedings remain ongoing, according to justice data .
The marches of March 24, a traditionally family, festive, and rather apolitical occasion – very well followed on the left – were associated for the first time this year by major trade unions, in a context of austerity shock for three months by the ultraliberal government of Javier Milei, to fight against chronic inflation (211% in 2023).
Hence a decidedly more political tone on Sunday, and a flowering of slogans and slogans reflecting a social conflict that threatens, against a backdrop of strangled purchasing power (-18% in two months) and poverty approaching 50% of population.
With AFP
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