A multitude of people gathered this Sunday at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires to commemorate the National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice, on the 48th anniversary of the 1976 coup d’état. It was a unique March 24, since -for the first time since the return of democracy in 1983- the national government supports denialist stances and rejects the number of 30,000 people disappeared by the civic-military dictatorship.
With Plaza de Mayo as epicenter, different marches took place in many cities and town of Argentina. In the City of Buenos Aires, the demonstration was organized by Human Rights organizations, together with political, social, student organizations and trade unions. Among the claims and protests, they included complaints about President Javier Milei’s austerity program.
At the same moment when the march was beginning, Milei’s government -in a provoking tone- launched a video with their “version” of the 1970s conflict, in which they question the number of 30,000 people disappeared, they ask for “complete memory, truth and justice” and accuse Human Rights organizations of turning the issue into “a big business”.
According to Human Rights organizations, this year’s march was one of the most massive since the return of democracy, with the presence of elderly Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, and a huge turnout of young people and families.
The first ceremony was organized by 13 Human Rights organizations -Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Founding line, HIJOS Capital and CELS, among others-, and was supported by the active participation of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the two Argentine Workers’ Central Unions (CTAs), under the slogan “30,000 reasons to defend our homeland. Never Again to planned poverty”.
Many political leaders were present at the march, such as Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof and Member of Congress Máximo Kirchner; UCR president Martín Lousteau led the march of his political party.
Governor Kicillof said that this year’s march was “one of the most important marches since the return of democracy, because things that we thought were unquestionable are being discussed again”, and he emphasized the need to “be clear about it: Memory, Truth and Justice, and they are 30,000”.
The first person to take the floor at the ceremony was the President of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto: “Mieli and Villarruel’s constant provocations go against every international agreement with constitutional status”, she said before asking Congress to pass a Anti-Denial Law.
Carlotto added: “The civilians who took part in State terrorism are mostly still unpunished: they held the economic power of the genocide. We demand that they are tried and punished now”.
Carlotto also questioned that national government’s decisions to fight drug trafficking in the city of Rosario: “The participation of the Armed Forces in domestic conflicts puts the citizenry’s human rights at risk”, she said.
Then, Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel took the floor and rejected the government’s “denial and apology of State terrorism”.
“The government is hastily carrying out the most merciless austerity program in the last 40 years, which is basically a new version of Martínez de Hoz’ poverty plan”, said Pérez Esquivel, referring to the dictatorship’s Minister of Economy.
On the other hand, Encuentro Memoria, Verdad y Justicia (EMVJ), together with other left-wing political, social and student organizations, read a text in Plaza de Mayo around 4PM.
Among the main claims of the EMVJ statement, they declared “They are 30,000. It was and is a genocide. Enough with the impunity”. They demanded “trial and punishment to all genocides, in common prisons”. Then, they demanded central unions for “a general strike and a struggle plan”, they rejected the debt payments to the IMF and repudiated the “reactionary plan, the austerity program and Milei and the governors’ repression”.
In turn, the Association of Mother of Plaza de Mayo gathered at Casa de las Madres, located in downtown Buenos Aires, where they had a ceremony under the slogan “Our homeland is not for sale, life is not up for grabs, the people will revolt”.
Previously, La Cámpora gathered at 9AM at the former Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy, for their usual 13 kilometer march to Plaza de Mayo, under the slogan “Because others walked before us, we walk so others will walk”.
For the first, this year the public media did not officially cover the demonstrations for National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice.
“It is unprecedented in 40 years of democracy that Télam news agency and TV Pública were not present with their coverage. It is a tragedy and it is proof of this government’s censorship and denial. This government rejects freedom of speech”, said Agustín Lecchi, General Secretary of Buenos Aires Press Union (Sipreba).