The face and chairman of the Argentine action group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Taty Almeida, died on Sunday. The organization has announced this.
The 95-year-old Almeida was admitted to a hospital in Buenos Aires three weeks ago. Taty Almeida, born Lidia Estela Mercedes Miy Uranga on June 28, 1930, was a teacher. She had three children with her husband Jorge Almeida.
She became involved in activism after the 1975 disappearance of her son Alejandro, then a 20-year-old medical student. He was a left-wing activist and member of the guerrilla group People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP). Taty Almeida never recovered his remains.
Since April 30, 1977, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (formerly known as the ‘Foolish Mothers’) have been drawing attention every Thursday on the disappearances and arrests of their children by military and/or intelligence services during the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983). An estimated 30,000 people disappeared at the time.
The group of mothers became known worldwide thanks to Dutch TV recordings during the Football World Cup in Argentina in 1978.