Rosa Tarlovsky de Roisinblit, the honorary president of the Abuleas de Plaza de Mayo human rights group who fought to uncover the truth about the victims of Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship, died Saturday at the age of 106.
Roisinblit, an iconic member of the tireless group that drew attention to those disappeared by the military junta, joined the Abuelas in 1978 after her pregnant daughter Patricia Roisinblit and son-in-law – both militants of the armed Peronist group Montoneros – were kidnapped.
“Rosita passed away at the age of 106, only recently celebrated, leaving behind enormous work and a trajectory as a human rights figure in Argentina and around the world,” the Abuelas said in a statement issued Saturday.
“We only have words of gratitude for her dedication, her solidarity and the love with which she searched for the grandsons and granddaughters until the very end,” the NGO said in a statement.
Roisinblit was born in 1919 in Moises Ville, a town of Jewish immigrants in central Santa Fe Province.
She trained as an obstetrician at the National University of the Littoral and went on to become head midwife at Rosario’s School of Obstetrics Maternity Hospital. She later moved to Buenos Aires and married Benjamín Rosinblit.
Roisinblit joined the Abuelas after the disappearance of her only daughter, Patricia Rosinblit, and her son-in-law, José Pérez Rojo, both Montoneros activists.
Alongside other mothers and grandmothers, Roisinblit took to the streets, demanding to know the whereabouts of her missing relatives.
Abduction
Roisinblit’s pregnant daughter Patricia and son-in-law – both militants of the armed Peronist group Montoneros – were kidnapped in 1978.
On October 6, members of the Air Force kidnapped the couple in Martínez, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, along with their one-year-old daughter, Mariana Eva.
The baby was returned to the family, but Patricia and José were taken to the Buenos Aires Regional Intelligence unit (RIBA).
Later, Patricia – eight months pregnant – was transferred to the ex-ESMA Navy Mechanics School (ESMA) clandestine detention centre, where she gave birth to her son, Rodolfo Fernando, who was then appropriated by a family linked to the Air Force.
After decades of searching, Rosa was reunited with her grandson Guillermo Pérez Rosinblit in April 2000, after an anonymous tip led to genetic testing that confirmed his identity.
He was among 140 people that the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo have reunited with their families.
“I wasn’t here just to find him, but to find all those still missing,” the human rights campaigner once said in an interview.
Justice
Roisinblit also fought for decades to see the military personnel involved in her daughter’s kidnapping brought to justice.
In 2016, she was in the courtroom when two former air force commanders and an ex-intelligence officer were sentenced to prison on charges of kidnapping and torture.
“The pain is still there, this wound never heals… But to say I’m stopping? No, I’ll never stop,” she said at the time, aged of 97.
She remained active in the Abuelas as vice-president until 2021, when she became honorary president.
Roisinblit’s group says there are 300 “stolen grandchildren” – born in captivity or kidnapped with their parents – yet to be found.
“We fight but the heroes are our children who rose up against a fierce dictatorship and gave their lives for a better country,” she said in a 2016 interview.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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