Friday 12 August 2011

Picture of the Day: Guatemala


A little late, but I have to draw attention to this fantastic photo of a woman celebrating the 6,060-year sentences in the trial of four former soldiers in Guatemala.

6,060 year sentence in 1982 massacre in Guatemala (LA Times blog)

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Resources: Truth and justice in Paraguay

A recommendation for those interested in memory issues in Paraguay is the website Verdad y Justicia from the Paraguayan government ombudsman (defensoria del pueblo). It's Spanish language and includes the complete report of the country's TRC for download as PDF.

Argentina: Welcome, grandchild no. 105

Yesterday the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo held a press conference at which they officially presented the case of found grandchild number 105, Laura Reinhold Siver, the daughter of Susana Siver and Marcelo Reinhold. Laura was born in the ESMA clandestine detention centre in 1978; her parents remain disappeared.

Despite the long-running and much-publicised Noble case, not every one of the Grandmothers' discoveries involves legal wrangling; on the contrary, in this case, it was Laura herself who came to the Grandmothers' offices to explore her own suspicions about her origins. The 34-year-old is a doctor, married with two children. She is one of the 37 emblematic cases of the trial dealing with the systematic appropriation of babies during the military dictatorship, although until now, her identity was unknown.

Laura has a grandmother who, although she is now is poor health, has been able to live to see her grandchild, reported Grandmothers' president Estela Carlotto. She also has an uncle and cousins who had been continuing the search for her.

It's truly incredible that 34 years after the fact, it's still possible to uncover the stolen children like this - and a tribute to the persistence of the Grandmothers and the bravery of the grandchild herself.

"Felizmente, una de sus abuelas pudo conocerla" (Pagina/12)
105th baby 'stolen' by Argentina regime identified (Times of India)