Argentinian Foolish Mothers co-founder has died

Mirta Acuña de Baravalle, an Argentine human rights activist, has died at the age of 99. She was one of the twelve founders of the group Madres y Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, known in the Netherlands as the Mothers and Grandmothers stupid

Two years ago died leader of the Mad Mothers, Hebe de Bonafini, aged 93.

The group was founded in 1977 by a group of mothers whose children were kidnapped by the junta during the Dirty War (1976-1983). Under military rule, about 30,000 opponents were murdered and disappeared.

The first protest arose in 1976 spontaneously, when several mothers came to the authorities to ask for clarification. They were sent away without any explanation of what happened to their children. In protest, they walked silently across the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the government palace in Buenos Aires. They came back every week.

Since then the group has held a peaceful demonstration every Thursday at the same place in the center of the city. In the beginning, the women wanted clarity about the disappearance of their children. But even after democracy was restored in Argentina in 1983, the foolish Mothers continued to appear. Now the organization is committed to human rights throughout South America.

In 2016, the famous mothers around the world walked on the Plaza de Mayo for the 2000th time. The women are recognized by their white headscarves, which symbolize the cloth diapers of their departed children.

The mothers received a lot of attention and support internationally and won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought at the European Parliament in 1992.