37 years since the Military Dictatorship in Argentina
The golpe de estado occurred on the 24th March 1976. I was two years old and my brother one. My parents were in their mid 20s and had finished their university degrees and were working for government organisations. They were lucky, nothing happened to them. Though we lived in fear. It was a bleak horrible time. Argentina has suffered due to this, and keeps suffering.
We went to a little plaza to pay homage to the people that have gone missing, the families seperated, the babies given to new families and given new identities while their mothers and fathers were killed and destroyed.
Between 1976 and 1983 people were persecuted,captured,tortured and assassinated- up to 30 000 people disappeared in Argentina (this was also going on in Chile, Uruguay and other parts of South America and Central America) and most were under the age of 35, students or workers.
In Esquel, 5 people are known to have gone missing. Five people who were either in the doing their military practice in Esquel, born in Esquel but studying in Buenos Aires or La Plata. Young people with a life ahead of them.
At night we also went to see a wonderful movie. It is called Infancia Clandestina directed and partly written by Benjamin Avila. It is based on a real story, on his life, even though the events have been changed, it parallels Benjamin's life. I cried so much, it is very well done and touching and from the point of view of a young boy whose parents are Montoneros (a leftist urban guerrillas group of young people from Argentina during the 1960s- 1970s).
The movie touched me, as I was a young little girl during this time and my parents also went away. Some people in Argentina call the people who left Argentina "COWARDS", i think not, I think these people wanted the best for their family and did not want to get caught killed or destroyed. In the end, everyone suffers, the ones who stay, the ones who leave, the children who are born without their real birth parents and grow up in different families, the children who grow up in turile and such a horrid time, the children who leave the country with their parents and leave their family, friends and culture behind. I know we as a family suffered and we still suffer. I hope this never happens again NUNCA MAS, here or anywhere.
I know Australia went through something similar with the Australian aboriginal people and the homicides, the displaced families, the children that were taken away. Even the "home children" a common term used to refer to the child migration scheme founded by Annie MacPherson in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa from the United Kingdom. These children were not disappeared, just taken from their families, taken to another part of the earth for a "better life". Like the aboriginal people of Australia and the stolen babies from Argentinian sequestered mothers.
"In Australia, such "Child Migrant" children are part of a larger group known as the "Forgotten Australians". "Forgotten Australians" is a term the Australian Senate has used to describe the estimated 500,000 children who were brought up in orphanages, children's homes, institutions or foster care in Australia up until the early 1990s.[16] "Child Migrants" refers specifically to the 7000 children who migrated to Australia under assisted child migration schemes. Child migrants were adopted or brought up in children's homes, institutions, orphanages or foster care. Many of these children experienced neglect and abuse while in institutional care." From here
We went to a little plaza to pay homage to the people that have gone missing, the families seperated, the babies given to new families and given new identities while their mothers and fathers were killed and destroyed.
Between 1976 and 1983 people were persecuted,captured,tortured and assassinated- up to 30 000 people disappeared in Argentina (this was also going on in Chile, Uruguay and other parts of South America and Central America) and most were under the age of 35, students or workers.
In Esquel, 5 people are known to have gone missing. Five people who were either in the doing their military practice in Esquel, born in Esquel but studying in Buenos Aires or La Plata. Young people with a life ahead of them.
At night we also went to see a wonderful movie. It is called Infancia Clandestina directed and partly written by Benjamin Avila. It is based on a real story, on his life, even though the events have been changed, it parallels Benjamin's life. I cried so much, it is very well done and touching and from the point of view of a young boy whose parents are Montoneros (a leftist urban guerrillas group of young people from Argentina during the 1960s- 1970s).
The movie touched me, as I was a young little girl during this time and my parents also went away. Some people in Argentina call the people who left Argentina "COWARDS", i think not, I think these people wanted the best for their family and did not want to get caught killed or destroyed. In the end, everyone suffers, the ones who stay, the ones who leave, the children who are born without their real birth parents and grow up in different families, the children who grow up in turile and such a horrid time, the children who leave the country with their parents and leave their family, friends and culture behind. I know we as a family suffered and we still suffer. I hope this never happens again NUNCA MAS, here or anywhere.
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| Symbols for the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, the grandmothers of the disappeared who were white handkerchiefs on their head and march every week outside the Casa Rosada to have their children and grandchildren returned. |
I know Australia went through something similar with the Australian aboriginal people and the homicides, the displaced families, the children that were taken away. Even the "home children" a common term used to refer to the child migration scheme founded by Annie MacPherson in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa from the United Kingdom. These children were not disappeared, just taken from their families, taken to another part of the earth for a "better life". Like the aboriginal people of Australia and the stolen babies from Argentinian sequestered mothers.
"In Australia, such "Child Migrant" children are part of a larger group known as the "Forgotten Australians". "Forgotten Australians" is a term the Australian Senate has used to describe the estimated 500,000 children who were brought up in orphanages, children's homes, institutions or foster care in Australia up until the early 1990s.[16] "Child Migrants" refers specifically to the 7000 children who migrated to Australia under assisted child migration schemes. Child migrants were adopted or brought up in children's homes, institutions, orphanages or foster care. Many of these children experienced neglect and abuse while in institutional care." From here
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