Uruguayan activist against 'dirty war' dies at 92

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Uruguayan activist against 'dirty war' dies at 92
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 5, 2010; 6:12 PM

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- Maria Esther Gatti de Islas, a human rights activist who helped found Uruguay's organization of relatives of people who disappeared during South America's "dirty wars," died Sunday at age 92, her group said.

A photograph of the eyes of her missing 18-month-old granddaughter became a symbol of the struggle of Uruguayan families to find out what happened to their loved ones who were taken away by a military dictatorship. The girl was taken at the same time Gatti's leftist activist daughter, Maria Emilia Islas, and son-in-law Jorge Zaffaroni were abducted in 1976 in Argentina as part of a crackdown coordinated by the dictatorships then ruling the nations of southern South America.

Gatti became a militant in denouncing political disappearances. Working with an Argentine activist group, the Organization of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Gatti helped start the Uruguayan Association of Relatives of the Disappeared.

After a long investigation following the restoration of democracy, Gatti's granddaughter, Mariana Zaffaroni, was found in 1992 living with a family of a former official of Argentina's repressive regime. Her identity was restored and her kidnappers were punished.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/05/AR2010120503343.html

[mahina]

1. Bless her heart.

Los Mujeres knew something we should have recalled in 00, 01 and 03- don't go home. Come back every day, no matter what. That they came every day even while their loved ones were being dissapeared should have informed and inspired us.

[truedelphi]

2. The people of central and South America can be vary inspiring.

Not that our Mainstream Press would ever mention any of their government overthrows, their persistence in getting life and death matters dealt with, their willingness to take a blow to the head in order to have things change.

[EFerrari]

3. I'm so happy she outlived them.

Brave, brave soul.