Obituary | A mother’s rage

Hebe de Bonafini lived through the lives of her sons

The figurehead of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo died on November 20th, aged 93

Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA:  Mothers of May Square leader Hebe de Bonafini (C) and some companions lead the 25th March of the Resistance, a 24-hour march ending Thursday that will be the organization's last of such demonstrations. The Mothers of May Square have held 24-hour protests nearly each year since 1981 in front of the Pink House, which houses the presidency, to demand answers on the fate of the 30,000 people who disappeared during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. But the aging women are not retiring their cause yet. They will continue their weekly half-hour march, around the May Square obelisk, which they started in 1977.  AFP PHOTO/Juan MABROMATA  (Photo credit should read JUAN MABROMATA/AFP via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images

She didn’t see it, but neighbours did. On February 8th 1977 her elder son, Jorge Omar, aged 26, was carried from his house in La Plata hooded and unconscious. The men who had tortured and beaten him there thrust him into a car. Then he disappeared.

This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “A mother’s rage”

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