The human rights activist, whose two sons disappeared during the dictatorship, had become a controversial figure in particular for her unwavering support for the Kirchner spouses. In 2017, she had been indicted as part of an investigation for embezzlement.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
She had become the “voice” of the mothers of the May place which challenged the Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983) by tirelessly claiming, up to their windows, news of their “missing”. Hebe Pastor de Bonafini died, Sunday, November 20, at the age of 93.
Initiated on April 30, 1977, their weekly round in Buenos Aires in front of Casa Rosada (Rose house, executive seat), wearing a white damn recalling the swaddling and embroidered in the name of a “disappeared” ( Some 30,000 according to humanitarian organizations), robbed the spotlight on the junta.
“Very dear Hebe, mother of the May place, global symbol of the struggle for human rights, pride of Argentina. God reminded you of the day of national sovereignty [holiday in Argentina] … should not be a coincidence. Just thank you and goodbye, “said the Argentina vice-president Cristina Kirchner on Sunday. Shortly after, Alejandra Bonafini announced in a statement that her mother died at the Italian Plata hospital, in the province of Buenos Aires, where she had been admitted a few days ago.
The Argentinian president Alberto Fernandez also praised “the tireless human rights fighter”, decreeing in a statement on Sunday three days of national mourning in his honor.
Disappearance of two of his three sons
born December 4, 1928 in Ensenada, near the Plata in a modest family, married at 14 years old and having known only primary school, she is 39 years old when the “Sucia war” (dirty war) turned upside down its existence and that of its three children. In 1977, his two sons were kidnapped, Jorge Omar (February 8), Raul Alfredo (December 6) then Jorge’s wife, Maria Elena Burignone Cepeda (May 25, 1978).
Hebe Pastor de Bonafini does not know who to turn when a mother of “disappeared” offers to join a rally in front of Casa Rosada. This is the beginning of a fight that only death, she says, can stop. In addition to forty years of gathering, Hebe de Bonafini and the “Madres de Plaza de Mayo” had 25 years of “resistance steps” of 24 hours in a row, until January 26, 2006 where they recognize being defeated by the ‘age.
Today, the “mothers”, which the combative Hebe Pastor de Bonafini has led since 1979, always find themselves on Thursday in front of the obelisk of Plaza de Mayo, but now to denounce all forms of oppression, an evolution which, in 1986, caused their split.
which has become a controversial figure
The association of “Mothers of the Place de Mai-Ligne founding”, chaired by Estela Barnes de Carlotto, is purely dedicated to the defense of human rights while that of Hebe de Bonafini is more politicized. After having rejoiced at the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States, she reacted to the deadly attack against Charlie Hebdo, in January 2015, believing that “the colonialist France which left countries in the ruin has Not the moral authority to speak of criminal terrorism. Ask the Algerians, the Haitians and its dozens of colonies “.
Defender of Chavez regimes and then from Maduro to Venezuela, she had also become a controversial figure in Argentina for her unwavering support for the Kirchner spouses.
The foundation she was directing, “shared dreams” of “mothers”, became under the chairmanship of Nestor then Cristina Kirchner an NGO of 6,000 employees, receiving state a total of 129 million euros For the construction in particular of social housing and hospitals. In 2017, a scandal involving her power founded, suspected of money laundering, splashed her and his daughter Alejandra Bonafini, then director of the Foundation, and several government officials. She then denounced a political “maneuver” of President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) which she had described as “enemy”.