Argentina Tours & Travel | Sightseeing in Buenos Aires: Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo
On a Thursday afternoon in April of 1977, fourteen mothers gathered outside the presidential palace in downtown Buenos Aires to challenge their government. Fearless with nothing more to lose, they had but one question: Where is my child? Wearing white bandanas to symbolize the diapers of their missing babies, here they have marched in silence ever since. They are the famed Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. A vital part of Argentina's modern history, the mothers today attract visitors on Argentina tours.
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The young adult sons and daughters of these women vanished during the dark period of Argentina’s modern history, commonly called the Dirty War (La Guerra Sucia), waged under the dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla who assumed power in a 1976 coup. The junta displaced the fragile government of Isabela Peron who as vice president had succeeded her husband, Juan, on his death in 1973, a few months into his third presidential term. In the guise of reform, the new government’s crack down began immediately. Thousands of citizens were tortured, imprisoned or exiled and up to 30,000 killed, their bodies never found. Among the desaparecidos ("disappeared") were subversives, sympathizers and many with no involvement in any political activity.
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The refusal of Las Madres to back down, their courage in plain sight of La Casa Rosada, the vividly pink presidential palace, eventually emboldened others to make their political dissent heard, until the government itself toppled. Argentina has never been the same.
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As happens over time among human rights organizations, issues evolve that once united. In 1986, the more radical members of Las Madres split off, forming the Asociacion Madres de Plaza de Mayo, to carry forward the political agenda of their children. The core group, called the Linea Fundadora (Founding Line) kept to their original goal of locating the remains of their children and punishing those responsible. Though the military admits to killing 9,000 civilians, until there is a full accounting of the missing, the work of the Madres will not be done, and the weekly marches will continue. If you time your Argentina tours just right, you may see the mothers march.
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Another group, the Asociacion Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, seeks the whereabouts of their grandchildren. Their cause is to identify the offspring of the disappeared, those taken during their parents' abduction or born during captivity, so they may be returned to their birth families. Some of these children were adopted by wealthy Argentine families who did not know or chose not to know their origins, a subject depicted in the powerful Argentine film, “The Official Story” that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1986. The grandmothers’ work spawned the National Genetic Data Bank and was recognized by the United Nations for its humanitarian efforts in 2003.
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Southern Explorations' Four Balconies Tour Extension includes La Plaza de Mayo as one of the sights on its Argentina tours. On a self-guided walking tour, you may reach the plaza by subway. The plaza is within walking distance of Buenos Aires’ oldest café, the atmospheric ever-popular Café Tortoni, a favorite stop on many Argentina tours. If you arrive at the plaza on a Thursday afternoon during your Argentina tours, you may meet Las Madres and buy T-shirts and other items that support their efforts. To learn more about the organization as you make your plans to travel to Argentina, go to www.madres.org.
