Brenda Re pauses from her task of grouping some white balloons that will be tied to the fence that surrounds the May Pyramid. “I would like Cro-Magnon to open up and be filled with light. Let him come out of the shadow“, expresses Page 12. She is 38 years old and is one of the survivors of the fire that occurred on December 30, 2004 at the Once bowling alley during a Callejeros recital. Almost 20 years have passed and the property is still not a space for memory, a struggle shared by the nine organizations of families of victims and survivors that emerged after the event. One year after law that determined the expropriation of the place and its transformation for this purpose, they jointly convened a “Not birthday” because the norm was not regulated and, therefore, there was no progress.
Cromañón Coordinator, The Path is Cultural, Cromañón Movement, Neither Forget nor Forgiveness, Don’t Tell Us Cromañón, December 30 Organization, Plaza de la Memoria Los Pibes de Cromañón, Let It Not Be Repeated and Without Rights There Is No Justice They have their differences but they agree on this: the building at 300 Miter Street must become a space for memory. It is, among other things, a way of saying “never again.”
This Thursday, its members first accompany the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in their round, they shout with them “The Cro-Magnon kids, present, now and always!”. They inflate and place balloons and flags around the Pyramid. They also set up some tables with 194 glasses – the same number for the balloons: the number of dead – with the names and surnames of the victims, for a “non-toast” of this “non-birthday.” Three artists who accompany them in demonstrations make a drawing on the floor of the Plaza, with chalk. It represents the stagnation of time with respect to the mutation of space. Las sneakersan essential symbol of the massacre, are in this drawing and also on the table, next to the glasses and next to photos of emblematic moments of these 19 years after the fire.
At the end of December 2018, the same Oral Criminal Court 24 that in 2014 had sentenced the owners of Nueva Zarelux SA, an offshore company in the name of Rafael Levy, to four years in prison, issued the definitive restitution of the premises to its owners. “We learned that all the belongings and traces of both the deceased and the survivors were eliminated by the same owner,” he says. Silvia Bignami, mother of Julián Rozengardt, who died at the age of 18 in Cro-Mañón. Silvia, from the Cromañón Movement, reads a document agreed upon by all the groups after 5:30 p.m. The text reviews the details until the appearance of the law and the problems that appeared afterwards.
In April 2019, the Movement presented an expropriation project in the Buenos Aires Legislature, an initiative that did not prosper. In mid-2021, family members and survivors from the nine organizations asked the Human Rights Secretariat to advance through Congress. The law was finally approved by the Senators on October 27, with 60 votes in favor and only one against. He declared the building where the bowling alley operated to be of “public utility and subject to expropriation.” It would be used to create a space dedicated to memory.
The standard has not yet been regulated. The relatives and survivors had access to a draft of the Executive and expressed their disagreement: In the document, their participation in the management of the space is reduced. It is not what was agreed with the Secretariat. In June they presented a request at Casa Rosada to have a meeting with Alberto Fernández. There was no answer. In the midst of this Thursday’s mobilization there was a call from the Human Rights Secretariat to resume dialogue. Also, a promise that the President would sign a decree to declare the space a historical monument.
“Without regulation there is no expropriation. This first realization should pave the way for many other actions.: have the key to the bowling alley, appraise the property, make a measurement, know how the place is, organize ourselves to determine its uses. The regulations have to define who the expropriating subject is and what the role of survivors and relatives will be in the management of the place,” reads Silvia. “Is businessman Levy and his offshore companies acting in the shadows again? Is he trying to get his dirty business going again? Will the memory space remain trapped in electoral disputes?“: some questions from the document. At the end of the act, all the names of the victims are read. They read, among others, Lilian Sapiro – Silvina Ranieri’s mother and aunt – and Marisa Gómez – Gustavo Marchiano’s mother -. Representative Romina del Plá and the candidate for head of government Vanina Biassi (both from FIT), Sergio Maldonado and mothers of the National March against Trigger Easy came to share the meeting.
Since the property returned to Levy’s hands, not only were the boys’ and girls’ belongings thrown away and the traces on the walls were covered up. The upper windows were boarded up. They even put up a watchman. “Have uncertainty being so close to a presidential election. The only interblock of Deputies that did not vote for expropriation was that of La Libertad Avanza. He was absent. Their proposal is the unrestricted defense of private property and the destruction of memory,” he warns. Nicolas Pappolla, survivor, member of El Camino es Cultural. And he adds: “The most important contribution we can make is to leave testimony, inviting the people to generate their own reflection.” “The most important thing about remembering is listening to the victims. We are lucky to be here to tell it. The best memory is our expression of what we experienced,” defines Brenda. She is not sure if she will dare to enter the place once it mutates. She does not know what could happen to her. But having the strength to enter and have it filled with light are your wishes.
