Planting a tree for each of the detainees disappeared during the 1976-1983 military tyranny in Argentina. | Photo: Twitter: Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo

Buenos Aires, March 11 (RHC)-- Human rights organizations in Argentina have called to join a campaign to plant trees throughout the country to remember the 30,000 detained-disappeared on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the military coup in the South American country.

The announcement comes at a time when it was decided that the traditional mass march on March 24, which commemorates the anniversary of the military coup of 1976, was suspended -- due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estela de Carlotto, president of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, one of the convening organizations, expresses that she joins the campaign organized "together with sister Human Rights organizations, 45 years after the genocidal coup" and explains that "in the context of a pandemic that prevents us from gathering people together, we want the memory of our disappeared to transcend the social networks".

In this sense, Carlotto says that "small careful actions will be carried out, to put memory into action. They can be public activities organized among neighbors, members of a club, school, union, civil society organizations and institutions, always complying with [health] protocols".  

Likewise, the social leader invites "to plant memory in the private sphere, in the potted plant on a balcony, window, in the garden, on the sidewalk of their homes," as they explained in a statement released on Wednesday.

"The Memory, like the seed, comes loaded with future," they emphasized.  "It contains all the genetic information to be able to become the tree that beats in its destiny.  In times of fires, deforestation and climate change, we invite people to plant life as an act of memory and future.  Because the memory of each disappeared comrade brings with it the legacy of struggle for a fairer and more united country," they added.

To participate in the initiative, the organizers announced, a poster must be downloaded to mark the action, take a photo or record a video and disseminate it on social networks on Wednesday, March 24th, "National Day of Memory, Truth and Justice" -- with the tags "Plantamos Memoria," "45 Años Del Golpe Genocida," "Son 30 Mil" and name the human rights organizations in the publication.