Plaza de Mayo

Art and Culture in Buenos Aires

"An absolute icon of Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo is the political and social heart of the city. Plaza de Mayo emcompases not only a downtown park, but also all the key buildings around it such as the Casa Rosada (the seat of the Argentine president), Metropolitan Cathedral, City Hall, and the National Bank of Argentina’s headquarters. This place has been the center of celebration and political demonstrations in both the 20th and 21st centuries. It’s also a place of significance for those who gather weekly seeking justice and remembrance for the people that were subject to forced disappearances during the last and most brutal military dictatorship (1976 to 1982)." - MATADOR_NETWORK

"Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo On every Thursday for the past 40 years, women have walked a picket line around Buenos Aires’s most politically significant plaza. They call themselves Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, and each mother present has lost a son or a daughter, presumably “disappeared” at the hands of the nation’s 1970s-era military dictatorships. Some days only a half-dozen mothers lead the march; though increasingly elderly, they are still determined to carry on the fight against all forms of oppression. You’d expect it to be a depressing affair, but in fact it’s quite moving to see the crowd of 50 or more supporters march beside the original mothers as they chant, demanding accountability for one of Latin America’s most shameful and violent historical episodes. By Travesías"