Daia Voices Dismay over ‘disappeared’

The DAIA, the representative body of Argentine Jewry, has expressed “dismay” over the recent assertion by the Argentine authorities that the thousands of persons who have “disappeared” in recent years should be presumed dead, and called for clarification, the World Jewish Congress reported today.

The DAIA (Delegacion de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas), which represents the largest Jewish community in Latin America stressed that it shares the “anguish” of the relatives of disappeared persons of Jewish origin. Its six-point statement, released here by the WJC, affirmed “the Jewish tradition of respect for the sanctity of human life” and its “categorical repudiation of all expressions of violence.”

It noted that through the years, the DAIA had received “the insistent pleas of parents and relatives of disappeared persons of Jewish origin” and it fully shared “the natural feelings of any parent or relative in a similar situation, regardless of creed.”

“It is indispensable that this chapter in our history be fully elucidated in order to obtain the reconciliation of all the inhabitants of the land and achieve a fruitful dialogue among them; for this we feel that, in order to be legitimate, any act aimed at contributing to social harmony must take place within the framework of the National Constitution and the concordant legislation,” the DAIA statement said.

It urged “the furtherance of action to prevent the recurrence of any state of violence in the country, whatever its cause, and voices its ardent wish for the peaceful development of the Republic, predicated on the democratic and pluralistic coexistence of all its inhabitants, protected by appropriate laws precluding all acts of injustice.”