It is 40 years of uninterrupted democracy in Argentina and Estela de Carlotto is a benchmark in Human Rights for all of Latin America. She suffered the kidnapping of her husband and the forced disappearance of her pregnant daughter at the hands of the Armed Forces during the dictatorship in 1977. She became an activist with Abuelas and searched for her grandson all her life, only to find him in 2014.
Meeting with Reynaldo Bignone, last de facto president (1982-1983)
“He received me with a revolver on the table. I went to ask him for the life of Laura (his daughter)… that if she did something, try and sentence her, but don’t kill her. He told me: ‘We killed them everyone’. When she told me that, I told her that if they had killed her, at least give us back her body, so we have a place to go to take a flower. That’s when she took other information from me. When I went downstairs, my husband was waiting for me in the car . She was expecting a baby and one was finding out from the released, “he recalled.
The beginning of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo
“My daughter had a child, like so many others, and they took it from her at birth and told her that they were going to give it to me. She did not believe it. It was delivered to a couple from Olavarría, from the countryside. People do not bad, but criminals… because I’m sorry, they’re criminals. They give her a baby and tell her where it comes from… and they never said anything? They raised him well, with love. And since she was murdered, with even more reason I reinforced my struggle to look for everyone. There was a group of Grandmothers and Mothers and I arrived a little later, a few months later. They told me that there were ladies looking for their grandchildren and that’s where I went and I was never separated anymore. They are my life sisters and we’ve gotten along very well. We’ve done incredible things, advances in science, the National Genetic Data Bank.”
In this regard, he said: “The judge asked us for evidence. Once, it appeared in a newspaper in La Plata that a father denied paternity and a blood test was done with the alleged son… And that was the word. Blood We began to search the entire world and they told us that it was not possible. We reached Scandinavian countries, which had scientific value, but they took refuge when we told them why it was such a horrible thing. We went to the United States and spoke in Washington and New York. The year after going to ask for that, an international seminar on genetics is held with all the scientists of the world. And there came the answer that it could be done. And there they come to Argentina, and in democracy the National Data Bank is born Genetics”.
Your commitment to fight
“From love, from pain, I swore to Laura in the grave to seek justice for her and her companions… and to look for her little son. I knew it was a man. I knew it for a liberated woman. And it does me good, because I thought I would have a life of retirement, the boys and the summer… but I did this with my colleagues, because I’m not alone, some of us are more visible or have more face to talk about. But I’m one more. So that to me It does a lot of good because I don’t leave this world without having done anything”.
Argentina, 1985
“The film is splendid. We were very enthusiastic but it did not happen. When the promoter of that film who lives in the United States and is from La Plata came and invited us to the organizations to see it in private… It was shocking, really very shocking. Because To those of us who were there at that time, he renewed everything for us. Because it was still the pressure of the military in democracy.”
The recovery of his grandson
“No one thought it was my grandson. Servini de Cubría informed me, he called me urgently and I was with a very dear musician, and I told Servini to wait for me, that she was busy. And he tells me: ‘No, come urgently, I need you to come.” I arrived, he received me and there were two people from the Genetic Data Bank. When he saw me calm, he told me: “We found your grandson.” I jumped, the light came on, we hugged, we cried the two together. I called my children, my grandmothers companions. They called Guido, they told him and he went the next day”.
Relationship with Hebe de Bonafini
“I respect her as a mother and a fighter, but we did not agree on anything. She had another way, another language, another attitude. Today I would not want to talk about her because she is not there, but she was a fighting woman and very different from us. That’s why there was a separation of Mothers, founding line. He didn’t love us, but he fought a lot.”
if we go to black box of your life, what is the moment that makes you the person you are today?: “You turned me into Estela, the journalists. There are so many Estela… If you knew my house and my way of living… you would You would realize that I am one more. There must be many Estela who do not know each other and are also very good, who give their own bread to those who do not have it. There are many good people in our country, women, and the woman has a big heart If they let her, with this equality that we are achieving, she will be a very good partner for the man, and the man will be a very good partner for her.”
Towards the end of the interview the black box is opened. An unexpected challenge begins. Week by week a figure will submit to the living room to discuss and reflect. And you, do you dare to remember what moment clicked in your life?
