The Last of 1,500 Thursdays

After 1,500 Thursday marches the Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza of May) called the end to their weekly marches at 6 p.m. today, following a 24-hour protest in the Plaza de Mayo. A protest against the military dictatorship and a demand for justice for the 30,000 killed during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina, the Madres' marches because a constant and affecting reminder of the past, and with time almost a kind of tourist attraction. This week, however, the head of the Madres, Hebe de Bonafini, announced that the group was capping up the marches at 1,500 because, "Now the President (Kirchner) is a friend of the Mothers and is doing many things we never hoped to see." Not surprisingly this stance wasn't held by all the groups involved in the weekly protests, some of whom wanted to continue and others who felt that to say Kirchner was a friend was to be co-opted by the Powers That Be (there's also the explanation that, well, they've been at this for 23 years--they may just be tired). One group against stopping was the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo--the Grandmothers of the Plaza of May--thus showing once and for all that children and parents will always fight. But all that aside, it was a moving event and an important reminder that few of the perpetrators have ever been brought to justice, and few of the children who were stolen and given to their parents' killers have ever been recovered. Photos I took at the event follow.

A march of various organizations--and their flags

Hebe de Bonafini

Souvenir photos with Bonafini at the last march

The tower of photos of the Disappeared

A lone marcher

P.S.: As Tutatis notes in the comments link to this post, this was not the last of the Thursday marches, but the last Resistance march. "Thursday marches are held weekly since the late 70s for about half an hour," Tutatis writes. "Resistance marches are held yearly since 81 and run over an entire day. Plus, the resistance march actually ended in November or December, I don't remember exactly, but the more radical Mothers of PdM wing (led by Hebe de Bonafini) delayed it so as to stage it on the same day as Thursday march 1500." Thanks, T.