On Sunday, November 17, the Santa Cruz church in Buenos Aires resounded with a collective “presente!” (“present!”), the rallying cry of the families of victims of Argentina’s dictatorship (1976-1983), signifying that the memory of their loved ones lives on. French President Emmanuel Macron, on a state visit to Buenos Aires, paid tribute to the victims of the junta – 30,000 dead and missing, according to the organizations of their relatives – and in particular to the French victims – around 20 – in this church, which is also a place of remembrance. It was a powerful symbol at a time when Javier Milei’s far-right libertarian government, which came to power in December 2023, is dismantling policies of remembrance, truth and justice.
“We haven’t forgotten you,” the French president assured the victims’ families. Macron was in Buenos Aires on Saturday, November 16, and Sunday, November 17, where he met his counterpart Milei twice. It was the first stop on his South American tour prior to the G20 summit on November 18 and 19 in Rio, Brazil, which will be followed by a trip to Chile.
Accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron, he spent over half an hour talking to victims’ families in this place of worship, where relatives of the disappeared used to meet during the dictatorship. In hiding, they tried to organize their search, notably with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
‘The solidarity of the French people’
Between December 8 and 10, 1977, the “Santa Cruz group” was, in turn, kidnapped by the armed forces. Twelve people in all were then imprisoned, tortured and thrown alive into the waters around Buenos Aires. Among them were two French nuns, Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet, as well as the founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Azucena Villaflor. Some of the bodies were identified in 2005, including Duquet, who is now buried in the Santa Cruz church.
“We thanked Emmanuel Macron for his gesture. With the current attack on the policies of remembrance, it’s very important for a head of state to pay tribute to the victims; all gestures in defense of human rights are important,” said Ana Maria Careaga, herself kidnapped and detained during the dictatorship. Her mother, Esther Ballestrino, was one of the victims of the “Santa Cruz group.” Visibly moved, Florencia Battiti, director of the parque de la memoria (Remembrance Park) in Buenos Aires, also hailed a “very important” gesture from Macron, underlining the extent to which the support of the international community is awaited in Argentina. “Here, in our struggles, we have received a great deal of solidarity from the French people,” recalled Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize winner (1980), who was also arrested and tortured. France received thousands of Argentine and South American exiles during the military dictatorships of the 1970s to 1990s.
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