Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Argentina is mourning

I am not a very political person but yesterday in my country, Argentina, died Raul Alfonsin. He was the first president after the military governments that we had at the time.

I had 11 years and of course I remember everything that happened, the publicity and the celebration when he assumed the presidency but most of all I remember my father’s happiness.

A new democracy and the most important promise: human rights, after decades of violence and terror.

One of the milestones of his presidency was the Trial of the Juntas, prosecuting some of the top members of the previous military regime for crimes committed during the Dirty War (refers to the state-sponsored violence against Argentine. By the late sixties and early seventies, regular citizens and police officers that were against the government were being kidnapped, tortured and killed by leftist terrorist actions almost weekly. Pregnant women were kept in captivity. They were tortured while waiting for their babies to be born. After the birth, the babies were kidnapped and the mothers were killed. This trial finished with the most terrible presidents Argentina had in prison.

May be I do not have to speak about politics in here but this is a tribute to my father who was a radical from heart.



This was one of the propaganda from the campaign.

If you want to read more about the human right violations, you can check the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo web page. It is in English.

See you tomorrow with a dessert recipe and a giveaway!
Paola

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