During an act of homage to the victims of the last civic-military dictatorship, President Alberto Fernandez he again launched a call for unity. “Today is the day when we are most united because we have a single slogan: truth and justice”pointed out the head of state in a speech during which he said he felt “shame” and “disgust” for those who deny state terrorism.
“Every March 24, Argentina unites to repudiate what happened and there we have no distances”, reflected the President. Among those who march, “some are Peronists, others progressive, but we all know that there was a March 24” in which a de facto government “postponed Argentina as no government had postponed it.”
Therefore, that date of each year “It is the day where we are most united because we have a single slogan: truth and justice”Fernandez remarked in his speech where, in addition, he made it clear that the slogan of Memory, Truth and Justice “is not a search for revenge but rather to have memory” and remember what happened between 1976 and 1983.
Criticism of denial
He also argued that with the victims of State terrorism “we have an eternal debt” and criticized “the deniers who say that what he called” the greatest tragedy in Argentine history “did not happen”.
“Shame they should have. Disgust gives me what they say”said the president in reference to the leaders who deny the existence of 30,000 disappeared, relativize the seriousness of State terrorism and vindicate the repressors.
Alberto Fernández’s speech took place during a ceremony at the Ministry of Science and Technology, where paid tribute to the scientists who disappeared during the last civic-military dictatorship. There, the President participated in the reparation and delivery of the files of eight members of the Conicet community, victims of the genocide.
“Dictatorships feared nothing more than thought. Thinking was dangerous for them.”considered the president. For this reason, he added, it is important to “build from thought” because from there arises “a more just and egalitarian society, which was the nightmare” for “the immoral people who took power” in 1976, overthrowing a democratically elected government.
“The crazy ones are still standing”
During the act there were also the referents of the organizations of Plaza de Mayo, the Mother of the Founding Line Taty Almeida and Lita Boitano, of Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained for Political Reasons. Both were given an award for their fight for human rights.
Lita mentioned the slogan of the organisms for this day: “We reaffirm, all the old people and the others, the fight for our sovereigntyin which many things enter; the memory for the 30 thousand and the thousands of political prisoners and murdered; and Justice for everyone”.
“We cannot fail those who are not and the survivors. We cannot fail them because their death was not in vain, ”she remarked emotionally.
For its part, Taty questioned the government of Mauricio Macri for “having tried to erase the memory” but pondered: “They could not.” “Despite the canes and the wheelchairs, the crazy women are still standing”he underlined.
“Memory illuminates the present”
The person who also sent his message was the Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who was not present at the event for health reasons. “The scientific community suffered the attacks of the dictatorship, as in the Night of the Long Canes. But memory is not to stay in the past, memory illuminates the present”, he highlighted.
Then the Minister of Science and Technology, Daniel Filmusrecalled that when he and Alberto Fernández were government officials of the Front for Victory “We had a historic moment: lowering the cadre of the repressors when Néstor had the courage to do it”.
“We will continue to work hard on memory”pointed out Filmus, who expressed himself “proud that researchers constantly fight for life.”
The president’s tweet for Memorial Day
Earlier, the President paid tribute to the victims of State terrorism through a message in which, in addition, described as a “lighthouse” the “tireless struggle” of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. “On March 24, 1976, the most horrible period in Argentine history began”he pointed out in a message published on his social networks.
From there he called have “as a beacon the tireless struggle of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo” and highlighted his fight “for the memory, truth and justice”. “Argentines and Argentines say Never Again”pointed out in his message that he included a video in which the beginnings of the mobilizations of the mothers in Plaza de Mayo were recalled.