El Plaza de Mayo or May Square

Julietta, our local tour guide, started our tour of Buenos Aires in El Plaza de Mayo. It is a plaza made famous by the protests that happen there on a regular basis. While citizens of Buenos Aires have times of celebration around the Obelisco (Obelisk) de Buenos Aires in the Plaza de la Republica, El Plaza de Mayo is the location to air important grievances.

Some protests seek to gain certain freedoms. The day we were there people were gathering for a protest for the legalization of Marijuana — a drug that is legal in neighboring Uruguay.

Pot enthusiasts were selling their wares throughout the plaza, and TV camera crews were assembling to capture what would most likely be Argentina’s most “laid back” protest to date. Since we didn’t stick around for the protest to start, I could only imagine their protest slogans: “What do we want? Legalization! When do we want it? Uh… I was told there would be pizza.”

However, other protests seek reparations and justice against government corruption. Julietta told us the history of the Mothers of the Plaza who still gather to protest every Thursday.

Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo

Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina lived under a military dictatorship. Among the atrocities of this dictatorship was the kidnap, torture and murder of tens of thousands of young adults who spoke out against the government. They became known as “los desaparecidos” or “the disappeared.”
In 1977, a small group of mothers gathered in the Plaza de Mayo with one common request — information and the return of their children who were among the disappeared. As the numbers of the disappeared increased, so also did the numbers of women who gathered in the Plaza — mothers and grandmothers who would not be silenced nor ignored.
Undeterred when the Mothers were told they couldn’t stand and protest, they embodied their protest through walking around the plaza for hours. This bold protest came at a price. Many of the original mothers were “disappeared” and murdered by the government.
Today, more than four decades later, the Mothers still walk for an hour around the plaza every Thursday demanding justice for their children. Most of the grandmothers are now between 90 and 95 years old, but they still march in protest of the 10,000 + who are still among the missing.
We were left wondering, “How can there be justice in such a tragic situation?” In fact, many of the dictators are still in prison awaiting trial. Tragically, the Argentine Supreme Court recently ruled that they will be tried as common criminals instead of being charged for “crimes against humanity.”

Today, the symbol of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is the white head scarf. There is a ring of these white head scarves painted on the ground of the Plaza and occasionally at other places in the city.

In fact, we saw this message freshly painted on the colorful walls in the La Boca area of the city.

A protest is planned for this coming week in a community show of solidarity with the Mothers as they protest the recent Supreme Court ruling. Fight on, Mothers! Fight on!

The Buenos Aires police have to continually monitor the Plaza. Sometime in the 1990’s or early 2000’s they put up tall steel fencing across the plaza so that, at a moment’s notice, they can separate protestors from the government buildings. We saw them moving these fences into place while we were there.

What was certainly meant to be a temporary solution has become a semi-permanent fixture of the plaza. In addition to the large police presence, they bring in a water canon truck to hold back unruly crowds. The water canon, along with rubber bullets, are used at more violent protests.

Another fence protects the Metropolitan Cathedral on the other side of the square. This Cathedral has received increased publicity and attention since it was the Cathedral of Pope Francis before he was selected to be the first Pope from Latin America.

This beautiful church also is home to the remains of General Jose de San Martin, the hero who led the fight for independence of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia from the Spanish. These three nations are symbolized by the three female figures around his tomb. We witnessed the changing of the guard, members of the regiment General San Martin established, who stand watch in two hour shifts.

We also learned that the General’s remains are not in the part of the monument that is draped in the flag, but rather, the General is entombed upright in the marble base of the monument to symbolize that in death, as in life, the Argentines remember him always at the ready.

He is also honored in this statue found elsewhere in Buenos Aires, which celebrates that the General lived out the rest of his years in peace, surrounded by his grandchildren in France.

But, returning to the original theme for the day, the Metropolitan Cathedral also is a location associated with Argentine protests of anything connected to the Church or the role of religion in public life. Protests seeking the legalization of abortions and women’s rights happen on a regular basis. Sadly, over 500 women die each year in Argentina receiving abortions from untrained “medical” staff in terrible conditions. The front of the Cathedral has to be regularly repainted as protesters throw paint at the church. Here is a symbol of the church, and the Pope, still discolored by red paint.

This symbol, which will be certainly be repainted, is a important reminder of the complexity of the religious, political and social relationships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Guessing they will get it cleaned up before Pope Francis comes to visit his home parish after the next elections in Argentina.

Casa Rosada or The Pink House
This impressive mansion serves as the house of government, even though the president lives elsewhere.

It is from the balcony on the front left of the building (as you look at it in this picture)  that Eva Duarte de Peron gave her famous speech to loyal “Peronists.” This balcony is featured in the 1996 movie adaptation of the  Lloyd Webber musical “Evita” where Eva Peron sings the iconic, “Don’t Cry for me Argentina.” We learned more about perhaps the most important legacy of  Eva Peron: Argentine women obtained the right to vote!

It is  so important for our girls to see these places and talk about the people from important times in Argentina’s history. Eva Peron lives on as a potent symbol of feminism and women in leadership. Similarly, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo have become an internationally recognized symbol of the fight against human rights violations and the potential of women to be a political force for advocacy and change. Long live freedom of speech and freedom of assembly!