Argentines commemorate 46th anniversary of coup d'état

By Bala Chambers

LONDON (AA) - Argentina on Thursday remembered the 1976 coup that installed a military civic dictatorship in the country, mourning its victims.

Thousands took to the streets to mark what is known locally as the National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice, including members of rights groups, unions, social movements and political organizations. They gathered to remember those who were detained, tortured, disappeared and killed during a dark period of Argentina’s history.

According to human rights groups, 30,000 people were kidnapped, tortured, murdered or disappeared by state forces.

President Alberto Fernández led a tribute at the Cultural Center of Science honoring eight scientists who disappeared during the dictatorship.

He described the period as a time when Argentina "began to experience a tragedy with an unimaginable level of cruelty."

“Every March 24 is an emblematic day for us. Argentina comes together to repudiate what happened. We have no differences or distances on that. Some are more progressive, others more Peronist, and others of a different color. But we all know that there was a dictatorship that persecuted, killed, murdered, condemned to exile and disappeared (people) and held back Argentina like no other government ever did,” said Fernández.

He also hit out at those that he said had denied those crimes against humanity during the dictatorship.

“Some deniers still say that this did not happen, that these facts did not exist, or it was not so. That it was not 30,000. That should shame you. The justice system has already confirmed it."

On March 24, 1976, a right-wing coup overthrew Isabel Perón as president of Argentina. A military junta was installed to replace her which was headed by Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla, Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera and Brigadier-General Orlando Ramón Agosti.

Rights group Amnesty International Argentina wrote on Twitter that 46 years after the coup d’état, the organization is participating in the commemorations “to make visible a new day of reflection concerning the crimes against humanity committed during State terrorism."

The rights group touched on the convictions of those involved during those dark times.

"Between 2006 and September 2021, 264 sentences were handed down, bringing the total number of convictions to 1,044. Every March 24 is crucial to highlight the success achieved by the whole of society and to NOT FORGET what is still missing,” it said.

After scaled-down commemorations during the last two years due to the global coronavirus pandemic, thousands of people from the various organizations including social movements, political organizations, unions and rights groups began mobilizing in the morning before marching in the afternoon to Plaza de Mayo Square, a central part of the capital, Buenos Aires.

Many of those present at the mobilization carried banners displaying the faces of those who were killed and disappeared. Others carried personal placards of remembrance, while others held flags belonging to different organizations.

Among those present were the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who are made up largely of relatives of the children who disappeared, with many from the group still seeking to identify children who were killed or adopted during the dictatorship.

Young children whose parents were murdered were adopted and never informed of their biological parents. After the dictatorship ended in 1983, advancements in DNA technology have helped reunite children with their biological parents.​​​​​​​

Some organizations that mobilized in Plaza de Mayo also displayed banners decrying Argentina's deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which still needs to be signed off by the IMF’s board of directors