Interview
A 1976 civil-military coup overthrew Isabel Perón and installed a dictatorship that ruled until 1983, carrying out disappearances, torture and the theft of babies, and forcing thousands into exile.
On 24 March, huge crowds flooded Plaza de Mayo and many other locations in the country to mark 50 years since the dictatorship coup.
Tens of thousands of people marched in Buenos Aires on the day of remembrance, with a traditional slogan “Nunca más” ("Never again”). It was one of the biggest rallies the capital has seen in years.
“A march of remembrance and protest was held in response to denialist narratives. We participated in it as the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights,” explained Pereyra, who serves on the World Council of Churches central and executive committees. “In the face of the horrors of the dictatorship, churches became places of refuge and protection—spaces for dialogue to envision horizons of hope and justice.”
She recalled how certain sectors of the churches resisted and denounced the torture, disappearances, and child appropriations that occurred during this period of de facto governments.
“For many people of faith, the sin was to look the other way, to deny what was happening,” said Pereyra. “The Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo had the courage, in the midst of the dictatorship, to publicly seek answers, asking out loud: ‘Tell us, where are our children?’ They also denounced internationally the forced disappearances that took place during the dictatorship.”
The Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights was founded in Argentina in February 1976, shortly before the start of the last military dictatorship. “It emerged as a joint organization of various Christian churches (Catholic and Protestant) to defend human rights and provide assistance to those being persecuted,” explained Pereyra. “The World Council of Churches is a founding member of the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights.”
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Rev. Mariela Pereyra, (second from right) during the celebration at the Roman Catholic Church Santa Cruz. The temple is where the meetings that gave rise to the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights took place in the mid 1970's.
Mariela Pereyra
Fifty years after the coup, Pereyra strongly believes the collective responsibility remains to seek memory, truth, and justice.
“The challenge raised during the ecumenical service—held as a liturgical space for reflection and as a sending-off for the march—centered on the question: How do we believe memory should be built for the next 50 years?” she said. “The challenge lies in constructing a historical and memorial narrative through intergenerational and crosscutting approaches to this collective memory.”
Pereyra shared a paragraph issued by the Argentine Episcopal Conference:
“We are living in a time with a growing tendency toward authoritarianism; a time in which populisms of different kinds exploit citizens’ anxieties, yet do not represent the remedy for a good life. A time in which an ideology of the survival of the strongest over the weakest is becoming predominant, when the strength of democracy should be manifested in care for the most vulnerable.”
Pereyra noted that the theology of the cross calls us to direct our gaze to where Jesus is—to those who are marginalized and objectified. “Memory challenges us and roots us in complex contexts where humanity and our common home are being victimized by extractivist models,” she concluded.
