Victims of terrorism

Just to let you know that Argentina seems to be again in the mid-1980s, and that certain things don't go away just because one would want them to. Yesterday there was a demonstration and an homage for people killed by the guerrilla insurgency in Argentina during the Dirty War. There was a parallel, much smaller demonstration of the left, to demand the re-appearance of Jorge Luis López, the witness of the Etchecolatz trial who disappeared two weeks ago.

I'd say that both had other main goals, rather than those advertised. Both were against the government; the left doesn't like the fact that President Kirchner is leftist enough (here and there) to be popular and get votes, and basically hate him because he's popular and they're pathetic -- most of the Argentine left is composed of people who are proud of being few but loudly ignorant.

The homage organized by the "Association of Victims of Terrorism in Argentina" is against the government because K has a human rights policy, and trials to military and police that kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands during the Dirty War have been resumed -- under K, Congress repealed the amnesty laws and the Supreme Court is voiding the pardons given to those criminals. Officially, though, they're only against K because he is "divisive", because his policy seeks revenge rather than justice. They make it seem as if K is creating a rift between two equivalent groups of Argentinians, when in fact what he's done is clear the way for those who have the duty of dividing us -- separating the common innocent citizens from the ones who conducted and supported the state terrorism of 1976-1983.

The Association of Victims of Terrorism is, as far as one can tell, overwhelmingly composed of relatives of members of the security forces who were killed by guerrillas. It's quite possible that most of them are not criminals, though by virtue of their job they all worked for criminals (no matter how far removed in the command chain) at some point, and many did surely know that they were doing illegal things. Leading the Association, however, are relatives of proven criminals and/or vocal apologists of the dictatorship, who claim (surprise!) that the past is best left behind. We all make mistakes, some things were a bit excessive, but hey, it was for the good of the country. Let's live in peace together as if nothing had happened, let's not be divisive, and yeah, while we're at it, we want a full amnesty. What? Yes.

The Catholic Church (not the fringe -- the so-called moderate wing of the Church, led by Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio) supports the aforementioned rhetoric of "national reconciliation" and criticizes the president for being loud-mouthed (which he is) in his denunciation of these ghastly crimes. K is also having a quarrel with the Church because a bishop in Misiones Province is running for a place in a constitutional assembly that will decide if Misiones will allow the re-election of governors -- K supports Governor Rovira, who is ostensibly a quasi-feudal lord in Misiones and now wants to be re-elected forever, which is easy when the poor are the majority and depend on state welfare. Bishop Piña said some things, Kirchner replied some things -- the usual. K is absolutely tactless and the Church loves it. Piña has a point -- Rovira must be stopped. If only the issue looked a little less dirty (as in political)!