By Natasha Niebieskikwiat, 17 July 2015
Twenty-one years after the explosion that demolished the old building of the AMIA and killed 85 people, the Argentines were yesterday present at yet another anniversary which has accumulated a further debt to the two decades without justice for the most serious terrorist attack in the country’s history . “We ask you to join us and help find the truth about what happened to my father,” said Iara Nisman, the eldest daughter of the special prosecutor in the AMIA case, Alberto Nisman, who was found dead with a bullet to the head exactly six months ago.
Iara, 15, yesterday became the unwitting star of a tribute to Nisman and his work. She accepted the invitation to take part in the main event organized by the Association to mark the anniversary of the attack. Also present were Sara Garfunkel and Sandra Nisman, the mother and sister of the prosecutor.
The scene on Pasteur street was held a day before the exact date, because today is the Sabbath, a day of rest for the Jewish religion. Iara brought tears to everyone’s eyes yesterday. Her sobriety and striking resemblance to the prosecutor charged the atmosphere with an even greater sense of mourning for the audience that, as with every anniversary, listened to the siren that at 9.53 recalls the bombing. Previously, they had heard a newscaster name each one of those that died on that July 18, 1994. They observed a minute of silence and wept for their dead. Amid the speeches came the brief letter written by Iara for her father. Her decision was to have it read out. The journalist Cristina Perez rose to the occasion as she was acting as the event’s presenter: “I understand the suffering that carry 21 years ago, because I saw how much my father worked for justice to be done and heard from him the details and family stories around the attack,” wrote the young woman.
After asking for help to find the truth about what happened to her father, -six months after he was found lifeless, his death continues to be labeled “doubtful”, Iara Nisman did not hesitate to complain: “They say things to tarnish his image. He cannot defend himself and they are minimizing all his hard work. ”
Not another single comment. And everything else was carefully and cautiously prepared in a ceremony where she chose to light a candle and lay a rose in memory of her father. Not a single minister of the government of Cristina Kirchner attended yesterday. Neither did the Minister of Justice, Julio Alak, nor chief of staff, Anibal Fernandez, who usually faithfully attend these anniversaries. Now candidate for governor of Buenos Aires, Fernandez was one of Cristina’s henchmen who most attacked Nisman’s private life, with direct personal insults and moral judgments. And as did all the proKirchner yes-men, he fiercely defended the president when Nisman denounced her before the Justice for the alleged cover-up of the Iranians accused of being the masterminds of the attack.
Clarin discovered that Iara was invited yesterday after an intense conversation in the institution, whose president and vice president are on medical leave. Finally, the young woman was personally invited by Luis and Ana Czyzewski, parents of Paola, who died in the 1994 terrorist attack at just 19 years of age. Standing close to the Garfunkel-Nisman family at all times was also Marcelo Polakoff, rabbi of the Cordoba community and who officiated at Nisman’s funeral, in the cemetery of La Tablada, meters from those who died in the AMIA attack. Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, mother of Iara and Kala from her marriage with Nisman was not present. Separated from the prosecutor few years ago, she says the father of her daughters was murdered.