Portland Observer, May 6 1962 Page 3
The mothers of Plaza de Mayo
by Joaquin Rivery
Granma
Around the obelisk in the center
o f the Plaza de Mayo, a large group
o f women dressed in mourning be
gins to walk slowly. In a silent pro
cession, they pass by, forming a cir
cle, holding high their grief like a
banner, racked by the torture o f un
certainty, o f doubt, o f not knowing
what has happened to their sons and
daughters, o f not knowing whether
they are dead or alive.
A ll the world knows these women
as the Mothers o f the Plaza de
Mayo, foi they have been meeting
there every Thursday afternoon for
five years, defying the most incle
ment weather, in a permanent dem
onstration o f grief and protest.
The coup d’etat o f 1976 unleashed
on countless Argentine women—
mothers, wives, sisters, daughters—
(he tragedy o f not knowing the fate
o f their ioved one, who disappeared
at all hours o f the day or night, as
groups o f armed men in plain
clothes, driving vehicles with radio
equipment (similar to that used by
the security forces) and without
number plates, detained people in
the street, at work, at home, any
where. Once those people had been
detained nothing else was ever
known o f them. They are the "d is
appeared.”
The Plaza de Mayo, in the center
o f Buenos Aires, used to be a
focal point for bereaved women in
search o f inform ation. They would
present themselves individually at
the Pink House, the seat o f govern
ment. which faces onto the square,
to request information on (hose who
had been arrested. They would also
go to other offices nearby. They
would sit down and rest on the
benches in the square.
Inevitably, they were united by
the struggle and the suffering they
had in common, and early in 1977 a
group o f 12 women began to work
together and seek information jo in t
ly —in form ation which they have
still not received.
The movement grew rapidly and
the government tried to expel the
women from the square when they
began (heir silent marches around
the obelisk. The police drove them
obI o f the square and called them
madwomen. But their organization
kept growing, until it became an in
stitution which had the support o f
political parties and other organiza
tions devoted to the defense o f hu
man rights, both inside and outside
Argentina.
No one knows how long the
movement o f the Mothers o f the
Plaza de Mayo will last. One of their
founders, Azucena de Vicenti, was
arrested and her body appeared
later on the street. Erika de Galetti,
a leader o f the Mothers, told the
magazine of the Latin American As
sociation for Human Rights that
their children would carry on the
struggle if necessary, as long as the
government refused them an ans
wer. "T h is government,” she said,
"w ill never give us an answer. Every
day the military repeat that they will
not, for any reason, accept any in
vestigation into their actions.”
In the search for their missing rel
atives, these women have resorted to
all the courses of action available to
them by law. They have requested
individual and collective writs o f
habeas corpus; they have sent letters
to agencies all over the world, in
cluding the United Nations; they
have visited the Pink House, the
M inistry o f the Interior; they have
been everywhere and done every
thing.
They have drawn up dossiers on
1600 cases o f disappearance. These
are legal cases. But, as Erika de Gal-
etti said, "W e think the number o f
the disappeared is closer to 30,000.
There arc many people who have
not denounced a missing relative for
fear o f the repercussions or because
they live in distant villages and don't
know what steps to take, or even
that they can take steps. Besides
this, there are cases o f entire fam
ilies who have disappeared, cases
where there’s nobody left to make a
request for inform ation."
Erika de G aletti points out that
the disappearance of a person is not
a single crime, but several. " I t de
prives us o f what you could call (he
rights to the corpse. A disappeared
person is in a lim bo between the
reality o f life and the unreality o f
death. They arc not men, they arc
ghosts. I t ’ s a terrible tragedy.
Grandparents have to take on the
role o f parents, couples who no
longer know if they’re still a couple,
children who don’ t know if they’ re
orphans or no,.”
The repression after the 1976
coup was so harsh that the m ilitary
regime has stated repeatedly that it
is not willing to permit any investi
gation into the events immediately
following the coup. They have even
managed to introduce a clause into
the future statute on political parties
in which investigation into this
problem in the future is expressly
forbidden.
Nonetheless, pressure inside A r
gentina and from international soli
darity has been so great that in late
March an o fficial statement was is
sued to the effect that information
would be given in private to relatives
—no, p u b licly—and with the p ro
viso that in many cases it was now
impossible to do anything.
Not long afterwards, a group o f
human rights organizations (the
Permanent Assembly for Human
Rights, the Center for Legal and So
cial Studies, the Committee o f Rela
tives o f P olitical Detainees and
Missing Persons, the Justice and
Peace Service, the Mothers o f the
Plaza de Mayo and the Argentine
League for the Rights o f Man) made
public the name o f a general, Eze-
quicl Verplaetsen, who had played a
direct par, in the arrest o f Georgina
Simmerman, and charged that the
army High Command had not au
thorized the general to make any
statement on this matter when he
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was summoned by a judge to clarify
the case.
A particularly distressing aspect
o f the tragedy is the disappearance
o f a large number o f children. Many
women were arrested together with
their children, or during pregnancy,
when the repression was at its
height, and the children were not re
leased. There are 89 fully document
ed cases o f infants who disappeared
along with their mothers or were
born in prison. This has led to the
birth o f a movement, more or less
parallel with the Mothers, called the
Association of Grandmothers o f the
Plaza de Mayo. Though the groups
are very sim ilar, the latter is the
more moving, since the victims are
innocent children. The government
has asserted that the children were
handed back to their grandparents,
other relatives or “ appropriate” in
stitutions, but they have not ap
peared .
The tragedy o f the disappeared is
the crudest human drama in Argen
tina today. But there are few hopes
that the problem w ill be resolved,
in the near future. While it is unre
solved, however, the Mothers and
Grandmothers o f the Plaza de
Mayo, though torn by grief and un
certainty, continue their struggle,
marching behind the slogan that has
now become known worldwide: "In
the name of freedom, in the name of
life , in the name o f peace, we w ill
find them!”
This week's Street Beet question
is, "D o you think that voting is im
portan»?"-
Street Beat
Saundra Evans, House mom—
Yes. I figure one more vote would
help. I am a citizen. People that
don’ t vote are stupid. They could
change things if they voted.”
Stefan Jones, student—"Yes. Ex
press your feelings about every
thing. It does a little good i f it
doesn't do a whole lot. Every little
bit helps.”
Carolyn Carpenter, homemaker
— "Y e s. 1 want to be involved in
w hat’ s happening in my commu
nity. I want to know what’ s going
on and make choices instead o f hav
ing someone else make choices for
me.
Touring the
sun spots
The fourth annual Solar Homes
Tours is scheduled for Sunday, May
16, from 1-5 p.m. This self-guided
tour is sponsored by the OMSI En
ergy Center and the Columbia Solar
Energy Association, and offers six
d iffe re n t tour routes to choose
from, West Portland, Tigard/Lake
Oswego, Oregon C ity, H illsboro,
Greenhouses/Sunspaces, and Gre-
sham/Sandy. Cost is $5 per car load
and most tours include passive and
active solar home designs, solar hot
water systems, greenhouses and sun-
spaces. Owners, designers, and/or
installers will be on hand at each of
the homes to answer any questions
you may have about design, installa
tion, or cost. Only low-cost, high
p e rfo rm a n ce , O re g o n -su ita b le
homes were chosen for the tours.
Tickets for the pubic tours. May
16, are available at OMSI (222-
2828), The OSU Energy Extcntion
Service in H illsb o ro (648-8632),
Hillsboro Payless Drug Store (640-
2795), Sunworks (245-5650), Energy
Saving Center (248-4636) and Ur-
ba.isun (620-5012). For more in fo r
mation, call Bob Glascock at OMSI,
222-2828, Ex,. 87 or evenings call
Bill Burgnoli at 668-7338.
Bernard Rickman, out o f work—
“ Yes. I feel that it is about the only
way at all that I get a say in what is
going on. I f I d on ’ t vote, I can’ t
complain.”
Bobbie Smith, telephone operator—
“ Yes. I t ’s my right. I f people don’t
vote and things don’t go their way
they want they should keep their
mouths shut.”
by Harris Lavon McRae and
Richard Brown
R obert H a tto n , unem ployed—
“ I ’ m a citizen. I vote for my coun
try —it keeps it straight, and helps
keep the wrong person from getting
into office.”
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Labor relations
subject of
seminar
"Employer-Employee Relation:”
w ill be the subject o f a small busi
ness management seminar Thurs
day, May 13, at 7 am, in the Town
and Gown Room on the Mt. Hood
Com m unity College Gresham
campus.
The seminar, sponsored by the
college and the Gresham Area
Chamber o f Commerce, will discuss
the employment process, the pro
ductive employee, and the termina
tion o f employment.
"Since a business is only as good
as its employees, it is important for
the business owner or manager to
know how to hire, evaluate, and ter
minate employees,’ ’ said Dave
Polito, MHCC small business pro
gram instructor.
The seminar leader w ill be
Michele Cotner, compensation and
benefits manager for the First Inter
state Bank o f Oregon. She is a grad
uate o f the University o f Washing
ton school o f business administra
tion and graduate school o f public
affairs. Ms. Corner’ s experience al
so includes employee relations in the
public sector as well as consulting
work.
This seminar is one o f a scries de
signed lor the owners and managers
o f small businesses. The June 9
seminar topic w ill be computers in
small businesses.
For further information or to reg
ister for the small business manage
ment seminar, contact the M t.
Hood C om m unity College May-
wood Park Center at 256-3430 or
the Gresham Area Chamber o f
Commerce at 665-1131.
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