Hebe de Bonafini
Encyclopedia
Hebe Pastor de Bonafini is an Argentine
activist, one of the founders of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an organization of Argentine mothers whose children were disappeared
during the Dirty War
, the persecution and suppression of opposition by the military dictatorship
(the self-styled "National Reorganization Process
") that ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983.
, and attended school through the eighth grade. She married Humberto Alfredo Bonafini in 1942, worked as a seamstress, and raised three children.
The Dirty War
cost the life of her elder son, Jorge Omar, on February 8, 1977, of her other son, Raúl Alfredo, on December 6, and of her daughter-in-law, María Elena Bugnone Cepeda, on May 25, 1978.
As president of the Mothers Association since 1979, Bonafini has spoken out in defense of her concept of human rights
, both in Argentina and abroad, gaining international recognition; she received the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education
in 1999.
Adopting the rallying cry of Aparición con vida (Return them alive) in 1980, Bonafini demanded an immediate accounting of all of the desaparecidos
, including her sons. Amid a gradual loosening of restrictions, she organized a March of Resistance along the Avenida de Mayo
on December 10, 1982. This event marked the first time the group marched outside the namesake Plaza de Mayo
, and the first time it was joined by large crowds of sympathizers.
Following the return to civilian rule in 1983, divisions began to develop in the organization relating to what they believed to be President Raúl Alfonsín
's overly cautious progress in prosecuting Dirty War perpetrators. Alfonsín established the historic 1985 Trial of the Juntas; but the decision to limit the proceedings to nine leading military junta
members, as well as the acquittals handed to five of these, further antagonized Bonafini, who believed the president would forego further prosecutions for political considerations. The Mothers Association split in 1986, establishing two groups of around 2,000 members each: Bonafini's Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo Association, and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo — Founding Line. Bonafini has generally been identified with the more radical faction, choosing to justify the methods undertaken by dissident people during the last dictatorship.
On the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks
, Bonafini generated international controversy when she defended the actions of the terrorist airline hijackers saying "I felt that there were many people in that moment who were happy and felt that the blood of so many in that moment were avenged... because the NATO bombings, the blockades and the millions of children who die of hunger in this world, that was due to this power that those men attacked, with their own bodies. And everyone knew it." Bonafini stands behind her support to organizations accused of terrorism such as FARC. Walter Wendelin, leader of the etarran
Askapena
organization, was invited as guest teacher in the University of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.
Journalist Horacio Verbitsky
critizied her support to the terrorist attacks, and Bonafini replied that "Verbitsky is a servant of the United States. He receives wages from the Ford Organization and, besides being jew, he is completely Americophile". She was accused of antisemitism, but denied it by saying that she merely intended to describe Verbitsky as an American agent. Verbitsky requested the tapes of the interview to the magazine that published them, and confirmed that Bonafini indeed said what the magazine had reported she said.
She generated more controversy in 2005 by stating that, as Pope John Paul II
"committed many sins, he [was] going to go to hell." She added that she "didn't say more than what the Roman Catholic Church
taught me."
The relationship of the Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
administrations with Hebe de Bonafini has been very close. President Néstor Kirchner received Bonafini at the Casa Rosada
within days of his May 25, 2003, inaugural, and regularly consulted her during his tenure.
Bonafini announced on January 2006 that her organization would discontinue its annual March of Resistance out of recognition for President Néstor Kirchner
's success in having the Full Stop Law and Law of Due Obedience (two Alfonsín-era measures which had effectively ended most Dirty War prosecutions) declared unconstitutional. The Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, led by Bonafini, has benefited from increased government funding during the Kirchner administrations, and has extended its influence through a newspaper (La Voz de las Madres), a radio station, and a university (Popular University of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo).
The association also manages a federally-funded housing program, Sueños Compartidos ("Shared Dreams"), which by 2008 oversaw construction on over 2,600 housing units earmarked for slum
residents. Sueños Compartidos had completed 5,600 housing units and numerous other facilities in six provinces and the City of Buenos Aires by 2011. Its growing budgets, which totaled around US$300 million allocated between 2008 and 2011 (of which $190 million had been spent), came under scrutiny and generated nation-wide controversy when a suspected case of embezzlement
by the Chief Financial Officer of Sueños Compartidos, Sergio Schoklender, and his brother Pablo (the firm's attorney) arose. The Schoklender brothers, who were convicted in 1981 for the murder of their parents and spent fifteen years in prison, had gained Bonafini's confidence and managed the project's finances with little oversight from either the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo or the program's licensor, the Secretary of Public Works. Their friendship ended in June 2011, however, after Bonafini became aware of irregularities in their handling of the group's finances. Following an investigation ordered by Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide, the Secretary of Public Works canceled the Sueños Compartidos contract in August and transferred the outstanding projects to the Undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Hebe de Bonafini has expressed support for figures such as Che Guevara
, Fidel Castro
, Sandino, Yasser Arafat
, Hugo Chávez
, Evo Morales
, and the mothers of ETA prisoners. She has declared herself against social democracy
, capitalism
, neo-liberalism, globalization
, and the International Monetary Fund
.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
activist, one of the founders of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an organization of Argentine mothers whose children were disappeared
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
during the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
, the persecution and suppression of opposition by the military dictatorship
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
(the self-styled "National Reorganization Process
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
") that ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983.
Life and times
Born Hebe María Pastor in Ensenada, Buenos Aires Province, she was raised in nearby La PlataLa Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
, and attended school through the eighth grade. She married Humberto Alfredo Bonafini in 1942, worked as a seamstress, and raised three children.
The Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
cost the life of her elder son, Jorge Omar, on February 8, 1977, of her other son, Raúl Alfredo, on December 6, and of her daughter-in-law, María Elena Bugnone Cepeda, on May 25, 1978.
As president of the Mothers Association since 1979, Bonafini has spoken out in defense of her concept of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, both in Argentina and abroad, gaining international recognition; she received the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education
UNESCO Prize for Peace Education
The UNESCO Prize for Peace Education has been awarded annually since 1981.The prize is endowed up to 60 000 US dollars and honours extraordinary activities in the spirit of the UNESCO constitution.-Recipients of the Prize by year:...
in 1999.
Adopting the rallying cry of Aparición con vida (Return them alive) in 1980, Bonafini demanded an immediate accounting of all of the desaparecidos
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
, including her sons. Amid a gradual loosening of restrictions, she organized a March of Resistance along the Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo
Avenida de Mayo , is an avenue in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with Congressional Plaza, and extends in a west-east direction before merging into Avenida Rivadavia.-History and overview:...
on December 10, 1982. This event marked the first time the group marched outside the namesake Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
, and the first time it was joined by large crowds of sympathizers.
Following the return to civilian rule in 1983, divisions began to develop in the organization relating to what they believed to be President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
's overly cautious progress in prosecuting Dirty War perpetrators. Alfonsín established the historic 1985 Trial of the Juntas; but the decision to limit the proceedings to nine leading military junta
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
members, as well as the acquittals handed to five of these, further antagonized Bonafini, who believed the president would forego further prosecutions for political considerations. The Mothers Association split in 1986, establishing two groups of around 2,000 members each: Bonafini's Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo Association, and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo — Founding Line. Bonafini has generally been identified with the more radical faction, choosing to justify the methods undertaken by dissident people during the last dictatorship.
On the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, Bonafini generated international controversy when she defended the actions of the terrorist airline hijackers saying "I felt that there were many people in that moment who were happy and felt that the blood of so many in that moment were avenged... because the NATO bombings, the blockades and the millions of children who die of hunger in this world, that was due to this power that those men attacked, with their own bodies. And everyone knew it." Bonafini stands behind her support to organizations accused of terrorism such as FARC. Walter Wendelin, leader of the etarran
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
Askapena
Basque National Liberation Movement
The Basque National Liberation Movement is an umbrella term that comprises all social, political and armed organizations orbiting around the ideas of the illegal armed organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna , proscribed internationally as a terrorist organisation.The wide variety of organizations and...
organization, was invited as guest teacher in the University of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.
Journalist Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky is a prominent Argentine investigative journalist and author. He writes for the left-leaning Argentine newspaper Página/12 and heads up the Center for Legal and Social Studies , an Argentine human-rights organization.He is also a member of the Directive Board of Human Rights...
critizied her support to the terrorist attacks, and Bonafini replied that "Verbitsky is a servant of the United States. He receives wages from the Ford Organization and, besides being jew, he is completely Americophile". She was accused of antisemitism, but denied it by saying that she merely intended to describe Verbitsky as an American agent. Verbitsky requested the tapes of the interview to the magazine that published them, and confirmed that Bonafini indeed said what the magazine had reported she said.
She generated more controversy in 2005 by stating that, as Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
"committed many sins, he [was] going to go to hell." She added that she "didn't say more than what the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
taught me."
The relationship of the Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner , commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female president, and the second female president ever to serve...
administrations with Hebe de Bonafini has been very close. President Néstor Kirchner received Bonafini at the Casa Rosada
Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, and of the offices of the President. The President normally lives at the Quinta de Olivos, a compound in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province. Its characteristic color is pink, and is considered one of the most...
within days of his May 25, 2003, inaugural, and regularly consulted her during his tenure.
Bonafini announced on January 2006 that her organization would discontinue its annual March of Resistance out of recognition for President Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
's success in having the Full Stop Law and Law of Due Obedience (two Alfonsín-era measures which had effectively ended most Dirty War prosecutions) declared unconstitutional. The Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, led by Bonafini, has benefited from increased government funding during the Kirchner administrations, and has extended its influence through a newspaper (La Voz de las Madres), a radio station, and a university (Popular University of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo).
The association also manages a federally-funded housing program, Sueños Compartidos ("Shared Dreams"), which by 2008 oversaw construction on over 2,600 housing units earmarked for slum
Villa miseria
A villa miseria is a form of shanty town or slum found in Argentina, mostly around the largest urban settlements. The term is a compound noun made of the Spanish words villa "village, small town" and miseria "misery, dejection"...
residents. Sueños Compartidos had completed 5,600 housing units and numerous other facilities in six provinces and the City of Buenos Aires by 2011. Its growing budgets, which totaled around US$300 million allocated between 2008 and 2011 (of which $190 million had been spent), came under scrutiny and generated nation-wide controversy when a suspected case of embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
by the Chief Financial Officer of Sueños Compartidos, Sergio Schoklender, and his brother Pablo (the firm's attorney) arose. The Schoklender brothers, who were convicted in 1981 for the murder of their parents and spent fifteen years in prison, had gained Bonafini's confidence and managed the project's finances with little oversight from either the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo or the program's licensor, the Secretary of Public Works. Their friendship ended in June 2011, however, after Bonafini became aware of irregularities in their handling of the group's finances. Following an investigation ordered by Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide, the Secretary of Public Works canceled the Sueños Compartidos contract in August and transferred the outstanding projects to the Undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Hebe de Bonafini has expressed support for figures such as Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
, Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, Sandino, Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
, Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
, Evo Morales
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , is a Bolivian politician and activist, currently serving as the 80th President of Bolivia, a position that he has held since 2006. He is also the leader of both the Movement for Socialism party and the cocalero trade union...
, and the mothers of ETA prisoners. She has declared herself against social democracy
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
, capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, neo-liberalism, globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, and the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
.
Awards
- Honorary degreeHonorary degreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
of University of CaliforniaUniversity of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
(1996), University of BolognaUniversity of BolognaThe Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
(2007) and Experimental National University of the Yaracuy (2010). - Honorary Medal of 70 Aniversary of the Universitary Reform, 1988, National University of CórdobaNational University of CórdobaThe National University of Córdoba, , is the oldest university in Argentina, and one of the oldest in the Americas. It is located in Córdoba, the capital of Córdoba Province. Since the early 20th century it has been the second largest university in the country in terms of the number of students,...
. - National Order of Merit of EcuadorEcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
(2006). - Appreciation Liberarte/2006, Liberarte Fundation.
- Order Heroines of VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
(2007). - Prize Don Hilario Cuadros and title Social and Cultural Ambassador of the Youth, Youth Direction of Province of Mendoza, 2008.
- Especial Prize of VeintitrésVeintitrés-History:The magazine was established in 1998 as Veintiuno by Jorge Lanata and colleagues from the television news magazine, Día D: Adolfo Castelo, Olga Gatti, Claudio Martínez, Jorge Repiso, Ernesto Tenembaum, and Marcelo Zlotogwiazda...
, 2009. - Human Right's Extraordinary Prize "Bicentenary of the May Revolution", 2010, Argentine Republic.
- Rodolfo WalshRodolfo WalshRodolfo Jorge Walsh was an Argentine writer, considered the founder of investigative journalism. He is most famous for his Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta which he wrote the day before his murder, protesting that their economic policies were having an even greater effect on...
Prize of Communication and Human Rights, National University of La Plata, 2011.