Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Unlike almost any other protest or political event, listening to the document read out on the Day of Remembrance, Truth and Justice has become a ritual that no one wants to miss. At around 4 p.m., a few minutes before the scheduled time, crowds of people were streaming towards the Plaza de Mayo, in a city centre that had been absurdly blocked.

The crowd was accompanied by numerous foreign delegations including the Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM), led by its spokesperson, Éric Toussaint, alongside delegations from ATTAC France and ATTAC Spain and numerous other Trade Unions and civil and political movements.

At about 5 p.m., Estela de Carlotto, President of the Plaza de Mayo [1] Grand-mothers; Taty Almeida, of the Plaza de Mayo mothers-founding line [2]; and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, président of Service Peace and Justice and Nobel Peace Prize Laureat announced the organiser’s common declaration.

 Uniting

Fifty years on from the genocidal coup, we stand together once more in this historic square—and in every square across the country—with deep conviction, to reaffirm that memory must be defended through struggle, and because we know that we must unite our struggles to strengthen them in difficult times.

There are 30,000 of them! [3] It was and remains a genocide. We will not forget, we will not forgive, and we will not reconcile!

Today they are here in this square, and we want the younger generations and society as a whole to know who the 30,000 were, how they thought, how they lived, what dreams they had, and what they were fighting for. That is why we are marching today with their photos. Because we are here to remember th e generations who, in the middle of the last century, began to organise themselves to fight against those who, just like today, wanted to turn Argentina into a colony of Yankee and European imperialism.

In a country with a strong industrial base, factory workers, together with agricultural labourers, fought for fair working conditions, decent wages and access to land. At the same time, broad sections of the labour movement were reviving the historical traditions of struggle and deepening their class consciousness, drawing up political and government programmes that went beyond mere demands for better working conditions. Examples of this include the trade unionism for national liberation promoted by the CGT de los Argentinos, as well as the class-based initiatives of the trade unions and coordinating committees in the industrial belts of the major cities. The student movement promoted unity with the working class and a university at the service of the people. It defended the legacy of the University Reform, not only its autonomy and its place in co-governance, but also free higher education, which enabled the sons and daughters of workers and peasants to fill the halls of learning.

The workers’ and students’ movement, alongside the Agrarian Leagues, the Priests for the Third World, and the urban poor movement, joined forces during the heroic days of the Cordobazo, the Mendozazo, the Tucumanazo [4] and so many other popular uprisings that challenged the dictatorships of the time.

It was against this background of unrest that the historic strike by the workers of Villa Constitución [5] took place in 1975, an iconic struggle that put the business and political leadership—which was clinging to the defence of its privileges—in a tight spot.

The 30,000 detained and disappeared, the more than 10,000 political prisoners and the thousands of exiles are part of that popular movement which organised and fought on despite persecution, bans and successive coups d’état. We honour all their struggles, which formed part of the activism that served as a tool for transforming reality within organisations of Revolutionary Peronism, such as Montoneros, the FAP, or the Movement of Priests for the Third World; the Guevarist tradition of the PRT-ERP; the Trotskyist tradition, such as that of the Socialist Workers’ Party (PST); and the anarchist, socialist and communist traditions: the Communist Party, the Communist Vanguard and the Revolutionary Communist Party, to name just a few of the hundreds of organisations and spaces for political, trade union, student and social participation, fighting for a society free from oppression and exploitation. We come from these traditions, and they serve as experiences to strengthen and renew the popular struggle against the fascist government of Milei and Villarruel.

 Loved ones

Those whose lives were taken from them were sons and daughters of this people, just as you are—full of joy, dreams and hopes, who set themselves the task of changing the world and the country. That task remains unfinished, and it is our responsibility to continue their cause at a time when far-right governments, made up of fascist elements and allied with imperialism, have once again launched an attack on the peoples of our continent and the world.

The genocidal dictatorship was preceded by Isabel Perón’s government, with López Rega and the Triple A, the CNU [6] and other fascist gangs; the ‘rehearsal’ for genocide that was Operation Independence [7], whilst Operation Condor [8] was being implemented across the region.

The 1976 coup d’état established a new economic model in Argentina based on the financialisation of capital, deindustrialisation and the shift towards a resource-based economy, accompanied by an indiscriminate opening up of the market to imports. The dictatorship unleashed a genocide through state terrorism, the aim of which was to dismantle the high level of organisation, political participation and social consciousness that broad sections of the Argentine people had achieved in the preceding decades.

On 24 March 1976, a systematic plan to eliminate and murder thousands of activists and campaigners was put into effect. More than 800 clandestine detention centres were set up, through which thousands of comrades passed. Hundreds of babies were stolen—babies born whilst their mothers were in captivity—and grew up having had their identities stolen from them.

The vast majority of those detained and disappeared were shot or died as a result of the torture to which they were subjected; many were murdered on the ‘death flights’ [9]. Their bodies were never returned to us: that is why we demand to know where they are!

From that day, 24 March 1976, with the collapse of the institutions, Parliament was dissolved, political parties were suspended and trade unions were placed under state control. Student unions and all forms of social organisation were banned. The press, science and the arts were censored. They fabricated an internal enemy, labelling them ‘subversives and terrorists’ to justify criminal actions against social, political, student, trade union, cultural and religious organisations, and against every form of struggle and resistance by our people.

When we say there ARE 30,000 of them, we are talking about their lives, their struggles, their activism and their commitment to oppressed peoples.

That genocidal coup was a joint civilian-military operation, involving business groups, sections of the Church and the US Embassy.

Forty-nine years ago, Rodolfo Walsh [10] published his Open Letter to the Military Junta and denounced the deliberate impoverishment of the people, the very heart of the dictatorship’s project. We know who profited from the people’s blood: the Blaquiers, the Noble Herreras, the Pérez Compancs, the Roccas, the Macris, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Martínez de Hoz, Braun, Fortabat, the Madanes Quintanillas, [11] amongst others, who caused the country’s foreign debt to rise exponentially.

Also, during the Falklands war the Argentine army officers committed atrocious crimes against humanity, subjecting the popular class conscripted Argentine soldiers who confronted the British enemy that was supported by the United States [12].

Impunity was state policy for decades: it was the unyielding struggle of the Mothers, Grandmothers, relatives, survivors and human rights organisations, alongside popular mobilisation and the 2001 uprising, and the social condemnation of impunity that enabled progress to be made and the reopening of trials against more than 1,500 perpetrators of genocide, in which the testimonies of the former disappeared detainees proved decisive.

 Assembly

Crimes against humanity are not subject to any statute of limitations, and enforced disappearance is an ongoing crime until the fate of every disappeared person is known. That is why enforced disappearance is not a matter of the past, but of the present; proof of this are the 12 comrades murdered in La Perla [13] and recently identified by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team. LET THEM TELL US WHERE THEY ARE AND We say ENOUGH of judicial delays, ENOUGH of privileges and house arrest.

It was the people’s struggles that time and again defeated successive attempts to grant impunity, such as the military self-amnesty law, the ‘Due Obedience’ and ‘Full Stop’ laws, Menem’s pardons, and the Supreme Court’s ‘2 x 1’ [14] ruling during Macri’s government.

Fifty years on from the coup, we call for the handover and immediate opening of all state archives from 1974 to 1983 so that investigations may proceed identify and incriminate those responsible for these crimes - Trial and punishment for all military personnel involved in the genocide, members of the security forces, civilian officials and accomplices who have yet to be convicted. Life imprisonment in a standard prison for all those guilty of genocide.

Milei is promoting the same programme that big business imposed during the civil-military dictatorship to maximise their profits and increase dependency. Governments such as those of Menem and Macri reinforced that model through austerity, privatisations, deindustrialisation, and the dismantling of public policies and social rights.

The Libertad Avanza [15] government is deepening its submission to Trump and US imperialism. It is attacking people’s rights and complying with IMF IMF
International Monetary Fund Along with the World Bank, the IMF was founded on the day the Bretton Woods Agreements were signed. Its first mission was to support the new system of standard exchange rates.

When the Bretton Wood fixed rates system came to an end in 1971, the main function of the IMF became that of being both policeman and fireman for global capital: it acts as policeman when it enforces its Structural Adjustment Policies and as fireman when it steps in to help out governments in risk of defaulting on debt repayments.

As for the World Bank, a weighted voting system operates: depending on the amount paid as contribution by each member state. 85% of the votes is required to modify the IMF Charter (which means that the USA with 17,68% % of the votes has a de facto veto on any change).

The institution is dominated by five countries: the United States (16,74%), Japan (6,23%), Germany (5,81%), France (4,29%) and the UK (4,29%).
The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries.

http://imf.org directives through a labour reform that amounts to introducing slavery, passed by the ruling party and its allies. To achieve this, they relied on the essential support of MPs and senators who answer to governors implementing austerity measures. Added to this are other counter-reforms—in pensions, taxation, politics and criminal law—whilst valuable collective commons are offered up as spoils to the most ruthless extractivist interests.

These reforms amount to a step backwards of more than a century in terms of rights won through struggle: the eight-hour working day, the right to a decent pension, and public healthcare and education. They are being pushed through in violation of the National Constitution, international treaties and protective legislation.

These neoliberal capitalist models cannot be imposed without repression; and so they intensify their attacks on grassroots organisations, persecute those of us who fight back, equip the forces of repression, fabricate charges, outlaw organisations, illegally expand the powers of the intelligence services, form federal and provincial task forces to intervene in trade union disputes, condone the use of excessive force and militarise civilian functions, moving towards a more authoritarian, anti-democratic and repressive regime.

Today, we have a government that is not only in denial, but also justifies state terrorism and genocide. That is why it is dismantling policies on Memory, Truth and Justice and cutting funding for memorial sites operating in places where there used to be clandestine detention centres; it is failing to fulfil the state’s obligation to provide historical reparations and pay pensions to former political prisoners, exiles, their children and survivors, who receive minimal pensions and have no health cover.

We condemn the censorship and harassment of the employees who have remained to run these facilities, and who are being prevented from carrying out activities that are essential to preserving the memory past atrocities. We demand that these facilities be preserved and that the physical evidence be safeguarded.

 Grandmothers

The consequences of the systematic baby-snatching scheme carried out during the last coup d’état are still with us. The hundreds of babies born in clandestine detention centres, and the boys and girls who disappeared alongside their parents—whom we are still searching for—are the ‘disappeared who are still alive’ from the dictatorship

Every case of a grandchild being returned to the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo serves as evidence of the atrocities committed by state terrorism: kidnapping, enforced disappearance, murder, theft, the abduction of minors and the forgery of public documents

The state must ensure the return of abducted grandchildren, but since Milei’s government took office, the only thing that has happened is a scaling back of public policies designed to safeguard this and all other rights of the people. The National Genetic Data Bank has seen its structure overhauled, and the National Commission for the Right to Identity has had its workforce halved.

We have resolved 140 cases. We are still searching for nearly 300 men and women whose identities have been altered, who unwittingly pass on to their sons and daughters a legacy of silence regarding the disappearance of their parents. We need public institutions, the support of society, the exercise of memory, and the breaking of pacts of silence to continue finding the sons and daughters of those who fought for a fairer country.

So, if you know of anyone with doubts, support them; and if you have information about a possible child of disappeared persons, please share Share A unit of ownership interest in a corporation or financial asset, representing one part of the total capital stock. Its owner (a shareholder) is entitled to receive an equal distribution of any profits distributed (a dividend) and to attend shareholder meetings. it. It is never too late.

We are here in this square, with the 30,000 as our banner, alongside the Mothers and Grandmothers, the survivors of the concentration camps, the sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, brothers and sisters, the relatives of the detained-disappeared, and the entire spectrum of human rights organisations, joined by the people, to tell Milei: memory is our weapon. And to demand: Tell us where they are! Fifty years on from the coup, we demand that the perpetrators of genocide and their accomplices reveal the information they are hiding. Despite the trials, evidence and convictions for their crimes, they continue to uphold the pact of silence

Once public condemnation had taken hold and the laws granting impunity had been repealed through the people’s struggle, the trials began. It was in this context that Jorge Julio López [16]was once again disappeared, and 20 years on we still do not know where he is or what has become of him: Bring Jorge Julio López back, and punish those responsible! Justice for Silvia Suppo, a witness in trials for crimes against humanity.

Over the course of 20 years of trials, 1,231 perpetrators of genocide have been convicted, but whilst survivors and witnesses continue to recount the terror they endured during the trials, there are fewer and fewer perpetrators of genocide in prison: of those charged and convicted, 504 are in custody, of whom more than 80% are under house arrest, 61 are in the VIP prison at Campo de Mayo, 18 are in ordinary prisons, and 1,582 accused under investigation remain at liberty.

Whilst the government defends those responsible for genocide, repressive policies and judicial persecution have become the means of silencing the people’s struggles. The criminalisation of protest is on the rise. Representatives of cooperatives and social organisations, community members, political activists and demonstrators are being persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned.

 Gathering

Today, we are proud to have organised this great demonstration of unity, transcending our differences. On behalf of all the human rights bodies and organisations that have called for this gathering in Plaza de Mayo and in squares across the country, we demand with the utmost conviction:

Freedom for Milagro Sala, Facundo Jones Huala, Milton Tolomeo, Daniel Vera and all political prisoners; we demand that all charges against them be dropped. We call for the overturning of Alejandro Bodart’s conviction and the dismissal of the case against Vanina Biassi, because speaking out against genocide is not a crime [17]

The imprisonment and political ban imposed on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, [18] former President of Argentina, following a trial marred by gross irregularities – during which an attempt was made on her life – warrants our concern and condemnation. Free Cristina Fernández

Despite what we have achieved in the more than four decades since the end of the dictatorship, state repression has claimed the lives of hundreds of Argentinians, such as those killed on 19 and 20 December

More than 20 years after the Avellaneda Massacre, we demand that those politically responsible for the murders of Darío Santillán and Maxi Kosteki be brought to justice and punished. [19]

Comrades Mariano Ferreyra and Carlos Fuentealba, present. Justice for Luciano Arruga, Santiago Maldonado, Rafael Nahuel, Facundo Castro, Elías Garay, Luis Espinosa, Facundo Molares, Florencia Morales, Juan Gabriel González, the victims of police brutality and all other victims of state repression

The Milei and Villarruel government is making the suppression of protests and the attack on the right to strike a state policy in order to prevent mobilisation.

Repeal Bullrich’s [20] unconstitutional anti-protest protocol! An end to state repression!

 Enough of police brutality, raids, arbitrary arrests and persecution!

We demand an end to harassment, torture and deaths in places of detention and confinement!

Repeal of the law lowering the age of criminal responsibility and the criminalisation of young people. Our young people are not criminals. We call for the effective implementation of public policies that guarantee and expand rights and strengthen the comprehensive child and youth protection system, so that children and young people can grow up free from all forms of violence.

We condemn the dismantling of public policies based on solidarity. We call for the universalisation of social assistance, an end to the scrapping of social programmes, an increase in benefit levels, the reopening of registration, and the provision of food to community kitchens. The creation of descent employment.

We condemn the brutal attack on pensioners and the crackdown on all popular protests. We demand an increase in pensions now! Justice for Pablo Grillo and punishment for those responsible!

We say no to the destruction of the public health system. And to the policy of closures, cutbacks, redundancies and privatisation of hospitals and health programmes. In defence of Garrahan Hospital as a national cause! We reject the disciplinary proceedings, sanctions and attempts at dismissal that the government is seeking to carry out despite the favourable court ruling! Effective implementation of the Paediatric Emergency Act and the National Disability Act.

Unconditional support for free, secular public education at all levels! No to the dismantling of the Department for Education. Effective implementation of the University Funding Act and rejection of the Milei government’s latest attempt to amend it in order to avoid having to comply with it.

 Mothers

No to the surrender of common goods Common goods In economics, common goods are characterized by being collectively owned, as opposed to either privately or publicly owned. In philosophy, the term denotes what is shared by the members of one community, whether a town or indeed all humanity, from a juridical, political or moral standpoint. . The Glaciers Act [21] must not be touched. We defend the land and water against extractivism. The RIGI [22] is intensifying the policies that set our territories ablaze and flood them, and persecute our communities.

An end to the militarisation of our territories. We demand respect for the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands, self-determination and culture, and we stand in solidarity with their calls for restitution. Down with all repressive legislation: anti-terrorism laws, the repeal of the unconstitutional reform of the Criminal Code, laws on repeat offences, recidivism and anti-mafia measures, and the decree authorising the Armed Forces to carry out intelligence and internal security operations.

We call on the three branches of government to annul and repeal the Framework Law, as well as Emergency Decrees 70/23 and 941/25, which grant further powers to the former SIDE [23].

We reject this government’s pro-fascist, colonial, racist and xenophobic policies. Stop attacking and persecuting migrants. Migrating is not a crime

We condemn the dismantling of gender and diversity policies, the attack on the rights won by women and LGBTINB+ people, and the promotion of hate speech from the highest levels of government, as well as the rise in gender-based violence. Stop femicides. Bring Tehuel back alive. Justice for Diana Sacayán. Care and redress for the trans and transvestite community [24].

Debt is a scam, and scams aren’t paid back. The only debt we owe is to the people: that money should go towards pensions, medicines, social protection, jobs, housing, healthcare and education – not to the Fund. Out with the IMF.

Down with the slave-like labour reforms pushed by Milei, the IMF and the employers’ organisations. No more redundancies in the public and private sectors. No to the closure of enterprises and job losses. The policies of austerity and the destruction of rights have been and continue to be devastating, and have not been met with a forceful plan of action to stop them. The hundreds of thousands of us filling the streets today demonstrate our determination to take to the streets and fight. We need the trade union federations to take the lead in a plan of action against these policies. A general strike and a plan of action now.

From this square, we stand in solidarity with the struggles taking place around the world and make them our own.

Justice for the Villalba girls, murdered by the Paraguayan army. Lichita must be found alive [25]. US imperialism out of Venezuela; an end to the blockade and aggression against Cuba; Yankees out of Latin America.

Milei supports genocidal Zionism. We stand for a free Palestine; we condemn the genocide in Gaza and the aggression by the US and Israel against the people of Iran. We say NO to genocide, NO to war.

For the self-determination of peoples.

Fifty years have passed, and we are still fighting for Remembrance, Truth and Justice. For bread, healthcare and work. For education and housing.

Let us hold the photos of the disappeared high in the air right now. At this very moment, they are looking towards the seat of government, towards that branch of the state that does not seek them out, whilst denying their existence.

With 30,000 struggles as our banner, we will not forget, we will not forgive, we will not reconcile. Because we are the country of ‘Never Again’ and the white scarf. Because we will carry on, as Paco Urondo [26] said, until everything is as we dream it to be and as we have fought for it to be.

Fifty years on from the genocidal coup, we are gathered here in this square to declare, with one voice and the unity our people so desperately need:

30,000 detained and disappeared, present!
30,000 detained and disappeared, present!
30,000 detained and disappeared, present!
Now and forever!
Now and forever!
Now and forever!

Editors note: notes have been added to this text in order to clarify, for non Argentine readers, the current and historical context of the struggles in Argentina. Their purpose is not to modify the tone or content of the text. The CADTM thanks Christian Dubuc for them.

Translated by Mike Krolikowski.