Last March of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo

On my way back from Spanish classes today, I walked through Plaza de Mayo, and stopped to acknowledge the crowds gathered for the final march of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. The Mothers have been gathering in the square for 25 years to demand information about their children who disappeared during the military regimes of the 1970s and 80s. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed or disappeared during the dirty war.

The square was full of people dressed in blue and white, with women wearing the familar white headscarfs that have become a sign of the movement. Around the statue in the middle of the suquare, scaffolding had been errected and covered with photographs of the dead or missing; faces still youthful, full of energy and hope. A large banner read simply, ¨Thank you Mothers¨

The Mothers will continue to meet each Thursday to hold silent vigils for their children. They are often joined by other human rights protesters, and have themselves have made connections between the disappearence of their children under right wing governments and the introduction of neo-liberalism economics, and as a consequence have been vocal in their criticism of this and other manifestations of neo-colonialism.

Photo from
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/EdicionImpresa/politica/nota.asp?nota_id=774958

The website of the movement is:
http://www.madres.org

As for me, I am continuing to enjoy life here. I am preparing for a Spanish test next week to graduate to the next level of classes. I enjoyed the day in Tigre but didn´t get a futon! More soon.