Nora Cortiñas, a prominent advocate for the victims of Argentina's military dictatorship, has passed away.
For almost 4 decades, activists have been calling for information regarding the whereabouts of their children and grandchildren who vanished during Argentina's military rule. Cortina's child Gustavo, a youth member of the left-leaning Peronists, was kidnapped by soldiers back in 1977 when he was 24 years old and has since been missing.
Cortina, often called Norita, was part of a group of ladies who campaigned for clarity outside the Argentine Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo. Since then, these activists have marched every week, demanding the disclosure of what happened to their missing relatives.
Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina was under one of South America's harshest military governments. Approximately 30,000 people were arrested, tortured, killed, or vanished without a trace, with many meeting abrupt ends in the Río de la Plata or the Atlantic. To this day, the fate of roughly 30,000 individuals remains unknown.
Cortina, a social psychologist and mother of two, was an active participant in these events. Although she had to take breaks for overseas trips to represent her fellow activists, she consistently joined the protests in Plaza de Mayo and championed the rights of indigenous people and women.
Argentine president Javier Milei has expressed skepticism about the official number of 30,000 missing individuals, a number which Cortina has worked tirelessly to share. This right-wing populist leader has criticized the claims.
