A Woman's Place · Episode 8 of 12 · 22 min
The Mothers: How the Plaza de Mayo Defied a Junta
Argentina's junta made thousands vanish and Chile's made dissent a capital risk, but neither counted on the mother, a figure their own ideology declared sacred. Fourteen women in white headscarves walking in a circle, and Chilean women sewing the truth into cloth, built major human-rights movements and paid in blood. The episode weighs the power and the price of maternal politics.
Who's who
- Azucena Villaflorfounder of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, abducted in December 1977
- Hebe de Bonafinilater leader of the Asociacion wing of the Madres
- Alfredo Astiznaval officer who infiltrated the Madres; convicted in 2011
- Estela de Carlottopresident of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo
- Mary-Claire Kinggeneticist who helped create the grandparentage index
- Alice DomonFrench nun kidnapped and killed in December 1977
- Jorge Rafael Videlahead of Argentina's junta
- Augusto Pinochet+1 more episodehead of Chile's coup regime
Where it happens
- Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires+1 more episodesquare where the mothers marched weekly
- ESMA, Buenos Airesnaval site where those seized were taken and tortured
- Santiago, Chilesetting of the Vicaria de la Solidaridad and arpillera workshops
Timeline
- September 11, 1973Pinochet's coup in Chile
- March 24, 1976Argentine coup launches the junta
- April 30, 1977fourteen mothers gather in the Plaza de Mayo
- December 8-10, 1977Astiz's infiltration ends in the seizure of founders and two nuns
- 1984CONADEP's Nunca Mas documents 8,960 disappeared
- October 2011Astiz and others convicted in the ESMA megatrial
Still debated
The number of Argentina's disappeared is roughly 9,000 documented and up to 30,000 claimed. Scholars also debate how much protection motherhood conferred, since the regime's gender ideology both created the Madres' stage and confined them to it.
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