ARGENTINA through my lens (episode #3) - Plaza de Mayo and the new DESAPARECIDOS

Hi Steemians!

I apology in advance for the quality of the pictures. I took them with my mobile phone, because I don't think this post needs any aesthetic treatment.

I hope you watched my last short promo video and liked the Facebook page of Ideas Sublimadas. This video is meant to help financially the cooperative Red Accion, which is carrying on initiatives of all kind, from legal abortion in Argentina to finding out the truth on Santiago Maldonado. They are media students of the Universidad Madres Plaza de Mayo. The university originated as a urge to create a new space of popular resistance after thousands of children and political opponents "disappeared" during the state terrorism of the military dictatorship, between 1976 and 1983. They often were interrogated by the military regime, tortured and then dropped into the Atlantic Ocean from an airplane. 30.000 people went missing. Is this belonging only to history books?

Well, I got to Plaza de Mayo yesterday, and I realised straight away that the political temperature is high as usual in Argentina. It's not surprising, given its recent history. Argentinian politics are still pervaded by a violent breach between right-wing and left-wing opponents, and this social and political crack has lead to years of violence and economical instability for decades. Perón dictatorship and the huge social drama of the 'desaparecidos' is still an open wound. Many of the kids who were taken from their 'communist' families back in the late 70s are now to be found in some other adoptive families. Many already asked for a DNA test.

This is 'La Casa Rosada', the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina. There are barricades all around, not really a symptom of a healthy democracy. Right in front of it, Plaza de Mayo. Today, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo are persistently engaged in the struggle for human, political, and civil rights in Latin America and elsewhere. They used to walk around the statue Pirámide de Mayo, demanding their children back. They are an icon of resistance. Today, they are still meeting every Thursday to march around the square in pursuit of action on other social causes: today the fight is for legal abortion.

And for Santiago Maldonado. The 28-year-old activist went missing on Aug. 1 during a protest for the rights of the indigenous Mapuche in Patagonia. Law enforcement officials, who broke up the protest, later claimed Maldonado drowned in a nearby river or escaped over the border to Chile. Not convincing - again - given the recent history of Argentina...

Argentina plummeted again in a recurring nightmare of losing its children to obscure political forces and the streets got crowded again - all over the country. They wanted transparency. On 21 October 2017, after a 12-hour autopsy involving 55 experts, Judge Gustavo Lleral confirmed that Maldonado's body did not have any signs of violence and the cause of death was established as death by drowning. On November 24, 2017 the verdict of the 55 experts confirmed that Maldonado drowned in a river close to the Mapuche protests were taking place - without external intervention.

Critics say it is not coincidental that Maldonado's disappearance comes during the rule of President Mauricio Macri, the first conservative to hold the top office since the military regime ended in 1983. Is it just Argentinian obsession with activists' disappearance, or are we witnessing to another dark governmental conjuring trick?

This is still a really controversial case and people here are collecting signatures and make petitions to reopen the case. I will keep you updated.

Steemit Worldmap : steemitworldmap 34°36′47″ lat 58°22′38″ Portraits in Buonos Aires d3scr

#steemitbloggers #photofeed

¡Hasta luego!

Alessandro & Elena