For the first time since the 1994 bombing of Argentine Jewry’s main community center, Jews distraught over the futile investigation say they have some reason to hope.
“There is a small flame of hope surprising us,” Sergio Burstein, a relative of one of the 85 people killed in the July 18, 1994 bombing of the AMIA building, told JTA during last Friday morning’s annual commemoration. “We haven’t had this feeling in nine years.”
The country’s new president, Nestor Kirchner, attended the large outdoor gathering.
In an impromptu news conference after the ceremony, Kirchner pledged that he would not rest until the issue was resolved.
In office less than two months, Kirchner already has decided to release secret evidence from Argentina’s intelligence services related to the bombing.
Argentine authorities have said they believe Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence agents were behind the attack, which followed a 1992 bombing — also unsolved — at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
Last Friday’s ceremony was held on a small stage close to the rebuilt AMIA building.
At 9.53 a.m. — the time of the bombing — the names of the victims were read, and a minute of silence was observed.
A song, written by Sofia Guterman — whose daughter Andrea was killed in the bombing — was played: “On every 18th the stars shine more, the sun sends more powerful rays,” the lyrics read.
At that moment, nothing except the memorial candles was shining: The sky was completely white, with a strong wind whipping spectators’ cheeks.
Jose Hercman, president of DAIA, the Jewish community’s political umbrella organization, announced plans to initiate legal action against Carlos Ruckauf, Argentina’s interior minister at the time of the bombing, for not carrying out his duty as a public employee.
“It was completely clear that the Argentine government knew 48 days before that a terrorist attack was going to happen,” AMIA President Abraham Kaul said in a speech at the memorial. “We want authorities to say what they have done with that advice.”
Kirchner followed the example of former Argentine President Fernando de la Rua, who also attended the bombing memorial during his first year in office.
“We thank you for being here today, Mr. President,” Kaul said, addressing Kirchner. “We recognize your positive attitude. But in order to come next year, you will have to continue fulfilling our expectations down this path.”
The thousands of people in the crowd included politicians, representatives of the Israeli Embassy and Argentines of all ages.
The trial against former police officers and a car mechanic accused of having a local connection to the bombing has been going on for 22 months.
It is expected to conclude before the end of the year, and Ruckauf and former members of Argentina’s intelligence service are expected to testify.
Kaul added that the Jewish community wanted the AMIA case to become a state issue, and demanded that files of the Buenos Aires province police relevant to the attack be opened.
“We don’t want to continue living surrounded by security cement fences,” as most Argentine Jewish institutions are, “as if we were second class,” Kaul said.
Humberto Chiesa, a member of the group Active Memory, which meets in front of the Palace of Justice every Monday, said the annual event feels like a wake.
“I meet people I see only on July 18, we cry together, we feel so close,” said Chiesa, who lost his friend Guillermo Galarraga in the bombing. The two owned a printing shop in front of AMIA.
Chiesa exchanged hugs with Salomon Said, the father and uncle of victims.
“I value so much what you do,” Chiesa said to Said, who attends every day of the AMIA trial.
“I just want the truth,” Said answered.
After the memorial, Kirchner unexpectedly decided to hold a news conference in the AMIA building.
“It’s a national shame that after nine years there is no justice yet,” he said.
For Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez, it was her first time inside the AMIA building.
The victims “were people that studied, loved, wanted a tomorrow,” she told JTA. “When I saw the faces in the commemoration, I felt so strongly their despair, that mixture of hurt and anger.”
Also attending the memorial was a five-member delegation from the American Jewish Committee that had come to Argentina to support the community’s demand for justice.
Robert Goodkind, chair of the AJCommittee’s board of governors, told JTA he is “enormously impressed” with Kirchner.
“I think it was a matter of courage and a statement that he came to the demonstration,” Goodkind said.
Goodkind invited Kirchner, who is due to visit the United States on July 23, to a meeting with American Jewish leaders in Washington. Kirchner accepted the invitation.
According to Goodkind, the AMIA case is symbolic.
“Unless the AMIA trial has a successful conclusion and the perpetrators are punished, Argentine citizens cannot have full confidence in their country, and other nations won’t have confidence in the Argentine society,” he said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
