By Javier Fuego Simondet, 18 July 2015
At 9.53 yesterday, a siren sounded again in front of the headquarters of the AMIA, at Pasteur 633. The sorrow that yesterday overcame the families of the victims of the attack was every bit as heartfelt as that on the morning of July 18, 1994.
Deep grief was the overriding feeling, but not the only one at the ceremony held to mark the 21st anniversary since the terrorist attack on the AMIA. In the speeches given, criticism and anger over the continued impunity prevailed. The MoU with Iran was questioned, there were calls for a greater commitment to the AMIA case by the presidential candidates, and particularly to clear up the death of Alberto Nisman, which took place exactly today six months ago.
The presence of the prosecutor’s eldest daughter, Iara was the most striking note. Another point of importance was the absence of the leadership of both national and Buenos Aires governments.
“I understand and share the long search and suffering that you have been carrying out for the last 21 years, because I saw how every night my father worked for justice to be done and I heard from him the details and family stories around the attack,” wrote Iara Nisman, in a letter read out by journalist Cristina Perez, who led the event.
Nisman’s eldest daughter asked the relatives of the victims to accompany her and her sister, Kala, to uncover the truth about the death of their father, “whatever it is, without giving importance to things that are sometimes said to tarnish his image, because he cannot defend himself. ” Iara laid a rose and lit a candle in honor of her father, along with the other candles lit to remember the 85 people killed in the attack.
After the message written by Nisman’s daughter, Raul Lavie’s voice was heard in an emotional song entitled “The Impossible Dream,” which moved many to tears
The speech given by Mario Averbuch, father of Yanina one of the victims of the terrorist attack, was the strongest in terms of calling for progress in the investigation into the death of Nisman.
Averbuch spoke out against Cristina Kirchner’s attitude during the days following the prosecutor’s death. “We do not need someone to play the role of crime reporter on national TV. It’s not her job to tell us her hypotheses of how Nisman died,” he said.
“We do not need anyone beating their breast and talking about how well human rights are defended when at the same time, they are unable to protect the main human right of a national prosecutor, which is the right to life,” he added.
Averbuch said Nisman’s death was an institutional tragedy and that he considered it to be murder. “We want to do something that should be done by someone else, which is to offer condolences to the family of a prosecutor who was murdered,” he said.
The representative of the family members asked the presidential candidates to express their public commitment to clearing up the attack. Only Margarita Stolbizer, presidential candidate for the Progresistas, heard the message. Daniel Scioli, Mauricio Macri and Sergio Massa, the candidates who are getting the best ratings in the polls were not present at the AMIA yesterday.
The main political figures present were Jorge Telerman, director of the Cultural Institute of Buenos Aires; Hernán Lombardi, Minister of Culture of Buenos Aires; PRO deputies Patricia Bullrich and Laura Alonso, and the mayor of San Isidro, Gustavo Posse.
At the beginning of the act, the treasurer of the AMIA, Ariel Cohen Sabban was also very critical. He stressed that the memorandum with Iran “terminated the AMIA case forever.”
Cohen Sabban referred to the cover-up trial, in the course of which former president Carlos Menem and judge Juan Jose Galeano were banned from leaving the country. “We want a fair trial, with impartial judges,” he said.
He also said that the death of Nisman “made them feel the echoes of the bomb of July 18”.