On Sept. 17,  “Restitutión de niños: A Conversation with Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo” was held in Healey Library. The event was co-sponsored by the Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights, the Latin American and Iberian Studies Department, and the Women’s Studies Department.
Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo has become one of the most influential human rights organizations in Argentina. Founded during the country’s “Dirty War” of the 1970s, Las Abuelas made it their mission to expose Argentina’s egregious human rights violations to the world.
While the brutal military regime was in power, more than 30,000 left-wing activists, many of whom were university students, “disappeared” (los desaparecidos). If victims were pregnant, they would be kept alive until giving birth. More than 500 children were taken from their birth parents and given to elite military families to be raised as children of the regime.
Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo was formed by a group of mothers and grandmothers looking both for their disappeared children and their stolen grandchildren. With the help of American scientists, Las Abuelas established a National Genetic Data Bank as well as the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team. More than 100 grandchildren have been discovered, and most of the abductors are serving life sentences.
Two of Las Abuelas came to speak at UMass Boston: Estela Barnes de Carlotto, president and founding member, and Buscarita Roa, assistant treasurer to the organization. Both women told the heart-wrenching stories that brought them to the organization.
Estela was able to recover the body of her daughter, killed as a university student. Her grandson, who is now presumed to be 35 years old, has not been found. Buscarita found her granddaughter in 2000. She was the first of the missing children to use her “true” name and to testify against her “appropriated” parents.
As Anny Rodriguez, a Latin American studies and anthropology major, said, “Their stories were very moving. I’m thankful that UMass [Boston] has events like this because it’s important for people who have lived through the dictatorship to be seen and heard.”
There is currently an exhibit on display on the fifth floor of the Healey Library, featuring the many different stories of the families affected by the dictatorship and their struggle to find their missing family members.