Argentine Activist Suffers Death Threat After Appealing to Pope

By teleSUR

21 November 16

 

Bonafini warned the Pope about increasingly diminishing social rights and the rise of political persecutions under the new right-wing government.

prominent 87-year-old Argentina activist reported suffering death threats Saturday after sending a strongly-worded open letter to Pope Francis asking the Argentina-born Catholic leader to do something for Argentina in the face of the country’s “hunger” and “institutional violence.”

Bonafini, president of the internationally-renowned human rights group the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, reported the threats in a video circulated on social media Saturday, arguing that she did not truth authorities to investigate the incidents and prefered to denounce the harassment directly to the public.

She detailed receiving a series of phone calls that abruptly cut before someone rang her doorbell in the middle of night and hurled insults and death threats at her. She recalled the harasser shouting profanities and calling her nasty names before yelling, "We're going to burst you, we're going to kill you!" She reported that the unidentified person also shouted, "Stop with your letters to the pope, the ofenses and insults against our president."

The death threat came after Bonafini had sent a letter to Pope Francis, warning that in Argentina "the people are afraid" and calling for help from the religious leader.

"Hunger is growing, with men and women with their children sleeping in the squares and sidewalks," Bonafini wrote, adding that "institutional violence" is hitting the country's poorest hardest. "Forgive me for this letter but I know that your words have a great reception among the people and we need them."

"The Mothers, we do more than we can and young people too, we hold and discussions to better exercise solidarity, delivering, as before, the best we have, but never is not enough because the hunger and the anger grows," she added, referring to her social organization, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

Bonafini met with the Pope last May at the Vatican warning him about diminishing social rights and the rise of political persecution of those who oppose the conservative government of President Mauricio Macri.

The iconic activist was also a victim of political persecution when last August a judge issued an arrest warrant against her into the alleged embezzlement of public funds, the case was dismissed soon as tens of thousands of Argentines poured to the streets to protest and defend Bonafini.

Bonafini is recognized worldwide for leading the fight for justice for victims of disappearance during the 1976-83 military junta in Argentina. She has two sons who were disappeared by the military dictatorship. Since 1977, she and her colleagues have gathered at the Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires to seek justice for their disappeared sons and daughters.

Macri assumed office in December, triggering an abrupt reversal in the progressive social and economic policies of his predecessors Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez from 2003 to 2015.

The new conservative administration has been plagued by nationwide protests over a series of neoliberal reforms, including mass layoffs, attacks on critical media outlets and the criminal prosecution of political opponents.