Participants in the demonstrations will demand a common prison for the genocidaires and guarantees of a decent education for all.
On September 16th, 1976 and in the days that followed, students aged 18 and under were kidnapped, tortured and murdered in La Plata by members of the Police of the province of Buenos Aires. Most of them were part of the Union of Secondary Students, a group belonging to left-wing Peronism, and the Guevarista Youth, a branch of the Revolutionary Workers Party. Some of them had participated a year earlier in protests in demand of the Secondary School Student Ticket.
Gustavo Calotti, Emilce Moler, Patricia Miranda and Pablo Díaz survived that event, considered state terrorism. Claudia Falcone, Francisco López, María Clara Ciocchini, Horacio Ungaro, Daniel Racero and Claudio de Acha remain missing to this day.
Since 2014, this date has been commemorated as the National Youth Day.
This year, the anniversary of that event takes on special significance due to the resurgence of denialist positions defended by the Government of Javier Milei, the attempts of some legislators to free those convicted of crimes against humanity and the decision of the president to veto a law to increase the budgets of public universities.
“There is always the memory of the missing children. They were between 14 and 17 years old, and they were not given the chance to live,” Moler, who survived that event, recently declared to the Página 12 newspaper. “As the years go by, you become aware of the magnitude of what happened. There is also solidarity for loved ones. It is important to note that the bodies of our comrades are not there and those who know where they are are not saying anything. It is a crime that continues to be committed,” she added.
“The Night of the Pencils did not just happen, it continues to happen. It is important to explain this in the face of the amount of news that want to sow doubt or deny everything. (…) The slogan of “Never Again” had a reach up to a certain point and today it is deteriorated, as was seen with the attempted assassination of former president Cristina Fernández. Therefore, it is necessary to build a new social and political pact,” Moler said .
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