Mother of the Plaza de Mayo
By Laura Reyes | November 3, 2022
On March 24th, 1976, a Military Junta forcefully took power in Argentina. Congress and democracy were suspended, political parties were banned and civil rights were highly limited. During this dictatorship, that ended in 1983, the Argentine Armed Forces launched a bloody campaign of State terrorism against their political opponents that included clandestine imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance of people and baby-stealing. All of these are considered crimes against humanity. It is estimated that more than 30.000 people were disappeared by the Armed Forces during this period. They are called “los desaparecidos” (“the disappeared”).
In response to the enforced disappearances of their children, a group of women created the human rights association “Madres de Plaza de Mayo” (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) in 1977. Since then, they have never stopped fighting for human rights, wearing white headscarves as symbols of their struggle. Every year, on March 24th, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and other human rights entities organize a peaceful protest to remember the disappeared and to demand justice and truth. They also denounce the human rights violations that continue to occur in the country.
Photo by Laura Reyes. “One of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo walks towards the iconic square during a March 24th protest, 2022”
Copyright © 2022 Laura Reyes
Mellodora (Laura Reyes) is a photojournalist and nature photographer based in Argentina. She has studied photography and photojournalism and her work has been published in newspapers, magazines and scientific publications from Argentina, Spain and Mexico. Her main interests revolve around social and environmental concerns. She joined the NFT space in January 2022 and some of her images are part of the Tezos Foundation Permanent Art Collection. See her available NFT work here.