Without flowers on her coffin and amid chants from activists, Argentines on Monday bid farewell to Taty Almeida, president of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora organisation and a symbol of the tireless search for the disappeared.
The human rights leader died on Sunday at the age of 95 after more than four decades as a tireless campaigner and one of the most recognisable faces seeking justice for the crimes committed by the military during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
Almeida lay in state at the headquarters of the telephone workers' union FOETRA, a sober Art Deco building in Buenos Aires that she frequently visited. Hundreds of people queued for at least two blocks to pay their respects.
"It's like becoming an orphan all over again," said Verónica Castelli, 52, her voice breaking.
Castelli's parents were disappeared in 1977 and she met her sister, who was born in captivity, in 2008.
"The Mothers are the ones who protected us. They're the ones who showed us the path we have to follow until the very end," she said.
Almeida's life was transformed by the disappearance of her 20-year-old son Alejandro in 1975, during the turbulent period before the military coup.
Like him, another 30,000 people were disappeared during the dictatorship, according to estimates from human rights organisations.
Since then, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo have marched in a circle around the square of the same name in Buenos Aires, wearing white headscarves and demanding answers about their children in a ritual that continues every week.
"She was an incredible woman, with incredible commitment. Her struggle and that of the Madres achieved international significance," said Peronist lawmaker María Teresa García as she waited in line to pay her respects.
Following the instructions Almeida left before her death, there were no flowers at the wake. Instead, donations were collected for her organisation.
Only a few wreaths could be seen at the entrance, which was decorated with dozens of improvised white paper headscarves.
Some mourners wept in front of the closed coffin, which was covered with tributes, scarves and banners from organisations and admirers.
"Thirty thousand detained-disappeared comrades!" someone shouted. "Present, now and forever!" the crowd replied in unison.
It was a slogan Almeida often used to conclude her political appearances.
Activism
Taty never abandoned activism.
Since President Javier Milei took office in 2023, challenging the long-standing social consensus about the dictatorship in the process, Almeida played an active role in protests against the government's reinterpretation of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The government rejects the figure of 30,000 disappeared and promotes a policy of "complete memory," which also focuses on victims of 1970s guerrilla organisations.
Human rights activists argue that the approach downplays the state's responsibility.
During a massive demonstration in Buenos Aires marking the anniversary of the coup in March 2024, Almeida declared: "We are facing a denialist government."
Born Lidia Stella Mercedes Miy Uranga on June 28, 1930, Almeida was a teacher and had three children with her husband and fellow educator, Jorge Almeida, before divorcing.
Alejandro was a member of the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) guerrilla group when he was abducted by the far-right Triple A paramilitary organisation.
"We have transformed that anger into love, into peaceful struggle," Almeida told AFP in a 2017 interview.
The daughter and sister of military officers, she did not join the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo until 1979.
"I didn't dare go," she recalled. "With my background, I could have been considered a spy. Once I was part of the organisation, I told them."
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by Leila Macor, AFP
