María Esther Biscayart de Tello
Born(1930-08-31)31 August 1930
La Plata, Argentina
Died1 April 2015(2015-04-01) (aged 84)
La Plata, Argentina
NationalityArgentine
Occupation(s)Teacher, human rights defender
Organization(s)Resistencia Libertaria (1974-1978)
Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora (1984-2015)

María Esther Biscayart de Tello (1930–2015) was an Argentine human rights defender and member of Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora. Originally a teacher by occupation, in the 1950s, she joined the anarchist movement and had three children. During the Dirty War, the family was affiliated with Resistencia Libertaria and Biscayart's children were forcibly disappeared by the military dictatorship of the National Reorganization Process. Biscayart then joined the country's human rights movement and advocated for the prosecution of those responsible for crimes against humanity.

Biography

María Esther Biscayart was born in La Plata, on 31 August 1930.[1] She trained as a teacher in rural schools and as a social worker in the University Extension Department, before going back to teach in her home town.[2]

During the 1950s, she was a member of the anarchist group Voluntad together with Pablo Tello, who later became her partner and the father of her three children:[3] Pablo Daniel (b. 25 April 1949),[4] Marcelo Rodolfo (b. 31 August 1950)[5] and Rafael Arnaldo (b. 13 April 1953).[6] The Tello Biscayart brothers worked as carpenters, and after the beginning of the Dirty War, the family joined Resistencia Libertaria (RL).[1]

Marcelo was the first to disappear, being abducated from his home in Córdoba, in the early hours of 9 March 1976. Pablo and Daniel were later abducted from their workplace in Tigre, on the afternoon of 31 May 1978. They were reportedly seen in "El Banco" and "La Cacha", before disappearing from record.[7] Biscayart's nephew, Eduardo Daniel Pereyra Rossi, was also abducted along with Osvaldo Agustín Cambiaso in Rosario. They were murdered by a group under the command of Luis Patti.[8]

After the abductions, Biscayart herself went into exile in France and began a campaign to denounce the political persecution and crimes of the dictatorship in Argentina.[1] In Paris, she went to the Argentine embassy every Thursday to present her claims. She filed complaints with Amnesty International and the French judiciary and also sought help from film and art personalities.[9]

Demonstration by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo

On her return to Argentina following the end of the dictatorship, in 1984, Biscayart joined the group Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora (English: Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo Founding Line), which initially worked to promote the Trial of the Juntas. She returned to France after the passing of the impunity laws, which prevented the prosecution or conviction of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity.[1]

In 2009, María Esther re-settled permanently in La Plata, where she testified in a trial regarding the case of the disappearance of her son Marcelo.[8] In December 2014, she participated in the First National Meeting against Impunity and Repression, which was promoted by dozens of organisations from all over the country.[1] Together with a delegation from the Assembly of Mexicans in Argentina, she demanded the appearance of the 43 missing students from Iguala.[8]

She died on 1 April 2015, in her home city of La Plata.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hessel, Luis (7 April 2015). "El último vuelo libertario". Marcha (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  2. ↑ ""Fue una militante con sus hijos en los '70, era una revolucionaria en serio"". Infojus Noticias (in Spanish). 12 April 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  3. ↑ Biblioteca Popular José Ingenieros (9 April 2015). "María Esther Biscayard de Tello, nuestro homenaje". Anarkismo (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  4. ↑ "Tello, Pablo Daniel". Parque de la Memoria (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  5. ↑ "Tello, Marcelo Rodolfo". Parque de la Memoria (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  6. ↑ "Tello, Rafael Arnaldo". Parque de la Memoria (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  7. ↑ "Registro unificado de víctimas del terrorismo de Estado" (PDF) (in Spanish). Secretaría de Derechos Humanos. 8 December 2015. p. 1194. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 "Libertades Democráticas. Falleció María Esther Biscayart de Tello, madre de Plaza de Mayo". La Izquierda Diario (in Spanish). 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  9. ↑ "El adiós a la Madre de Plaza de Mayo Esther Biscayart de Tello". Clarín (in Spanish). 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
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