Yesterday the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo resided in a place other than the historical Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires for the first time in 35 years. The Mothers paid tribute to the former president Néstor Kirchner, in his home town, Rio Gallegos, province of Santa Cruz.

The Madres were accompanied by two younger political groups La Cámpora and La Kolina, as well as some officials. They have just ended a two day tour around the province, viewing landmarks connected to Néstor Kirchner.

In reference to Nestor, Hebe de Bonafini, spokeswoman for the Madres, said to La Nacion that”every Thursday you’re in the Plaza with us, you’re our child who luckily had the clarity to occupy such a transient chair that you did”.

Today over 100 human rights, student, cultural and labour organisations, marched along Avenida de Mayo to Plaza de Mayo to commemorate ‘El Día de la Memoria’, a day of memory to remember the 30,000 people who ‘disappeared’ under the military dictatorship in Argentina that began 34 years ago in 1976. The march was led by the Abuelas and Madres de Plaza de Mayo.

Estela de Carlotto, from the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, was the first to speak at the rally and was accompanied by a 500 metre banner that contained the faces of thousands of the missing. The banner carried the slogan ‘For a bicentenary without impunity: Trial and punishment now’: referring to the need to bring those responsible for the deaths and torture committed during the dictatorship to trial. She spoke about the need for justice and criticised a number of private companies such as Ford and Mercedes Benz, the head of Buenos Aires government, Mauricio Macri, and the metropolitan police. She said, “The accomplices of hunger are the same as 30 years ago.” Other groups at the rally were protesting and remembering those who have ‘disappeared’ since the military dictatorship, under democracy.

President Cristina Kirchner held a rally at ESMA, the former naval mechanic school which was a detention centre of political prisoners during the dictatorship and is now an ‘Espacio para la Memoria’ (a space for memory). Cristina called for a “rebuilding of the country” and stated that she would resort to international courts if justice couldn’t be achieved in Argentina. She said, “Our past should not be judged, those who committed crimes indeed should be [judged].”

Members of the left-wing and anti-government group, Quebracho, led by Fernando Esteche, demonstrated at the Argentine Industrial Union headquarters. They covered their faces with scarves and carried wooden sticks and stones.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a human rights organisation dedicated to recovering the identities of individuals born to parents who were disappeared during the last military dictatorship, have reunited Francisco Madariaga Quintela with his father, Abel Pedro Madariaga, who had been looking for his son for the past 32 years. Abel works as a secretary for the Grandmothers organisation and helped design the group’s communication strategy for engaging young people with doubts about their paternity.

Francisco went to the Grandmothers on 3rd February, gave blood for DNA analysis the following day and within two weeks was informed of the results and offered to be put in touch with his real family. The case is an example of how the Grandmothers work has been expedited in recent years due to the creation of the National Genetic Data Bank.

In a press conference on Monday at the Grandmothers offices Abel said he hoped that the “natural” process of Franciso and his reuniting would serve as an example to others with doubts about their own true identities, and that it would give them strength. Francisco, addressing those in similar situations, stated that: “Not having an identity is like being a ghost,” and continued, “but I found a giant family with love. That’s what I wanted: for me it is a gift.”

Francisco’s mother, Silvia Monica Quintela, was completing her residency as a surgeon, and was four months pregnant, when she was kidnapped on 17th January 1977 in Florida, Buenos Aires province. She was, along with Abel, a member of the leftist guerrilla group the Montoneros. Abel fled the country and lived first in Sweden and then in Mexico until he returned to Argentina in 1983 following the restoration of democracy. Soon after he began working with the Grandmothers organisation and continued searching for his child.

At the press conference, Francisco stated that he had lived with “an inexplicable emptiness inside”, and described his life as “32 years of anguish, of living with a lot of violence and abuse.” He was raised by retired Army captain Victor Alejandro Gallo, who he reported as being both physically and psychologically abusive. Both Gallo and his ex-wife were arrested and detained last Thursday on charges of illegal child appropriation.

The head of the Grandmothers, Estela de Carlotto expressed content over the Gallo’s prompt arrest due to the risk he posed to both to Francisco and his own biological family. Gallo has a violent criminal record and took part in the Carapintadas military mutiny following the return of democracy. Carlotto also called for “the celebration to continue by finding these people who live oppressed and unfortunate lives” and remarked that “the truth is necessary and (it) surfaces, and the justice that comes next is a prize for all Argentines.”