Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo endorses The "See Change" Campaign
April 27, 2000

The internationally-renowned Argentinian group, Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Disappeared) has endorsed The "See Change" Campaign. Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo was established in the late 1970s to campaign for justice against those involved in Argentina's 'dirty war.' The women, who wore symbolic white scarves over their heads on demonstrations and vigils, confronted the government over its role in the disappearance of over 30,000 political opponents.

In 1997, the group accused Cardinal Pio Laghi, then the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, of complicity in several hundred disappearances. Cardinal Laghi served as papal nuncio to Argentina between 1974 and 1980, and Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo claimed that he had "intimate knowledge" of government plans to kill, torture, and murder political opponents. Although charges were filed in an Italian court, Cardinal Laghi escaped prosecution because of diplomatic immunity granted to all Vatican officials.

Visit the website of Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo