ARGENTINA: Family members of victims killed in attack on Jewish Community Centre 20 years ago gather in Buenos Aires to commemorate loved ones and demand justice

Record ID: 449181

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Family members of victims killed in attack on Jewish Community Centre 20 years ago gather in Buenos Aires to commemorate loved ones and demand justice
  • Date: 18th July 2014
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE-JULY 18, 1994) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AFTERMATH OF AMIA BOMB WITH RESCUE WORKERS REMOVING BODIES FROM THE RUBBLE
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9QZKJHOT5AOBIBRJ6MFWLZZ77
  • Story Text: People gathered in Buenos Aires on Friday (July 18) to mark the 20th anniversary since a deadly bomb ripped through the AMIA Jewish Community Centre.
    On the morning of July 18, 1994, a car bomb destroyed the AMIA headquarters, leaving 85 dead and 300 wounded. The deadliest terrorist attack ever in Argentina's history came just two years after the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29.
    In 2006, an official Argentine government report prepared by Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman identified Iranian and Hezbollah figures as responsible for the attack.
    INTERPOL issued red notices for the capture of six suspects, including Ahmed Vahidi, a former Iranian Defense Minister.
    Luis Czyzewski, who lost his daughter Paula in the explosion, called for justice and slammed a proposed truth commission with Iran.

    "Mr. Foreign Minister [Hector Timmerman] you should remember the words of Pope Francis when he said that the mentality of fundamentalism is violence in the name of god. We add that with assassin fundamentalists, one doesn't negotiate, one doesn't make agreements. They denounce them where they should be denounced," said Czyzewski.
    In May an Argentine Federal court struck down an agreement between the South American country and Iran to jointly investigate the deadly bombing.
    The ruling declared the agreement unconstitutional and ordered Argentina not to go ahead with it. The deal had been delayed anyway by Iranian reluctance to move forward in implementing it. The government said it will appeal the ruling to Argentina's Supreme Court.
    People in the act listened to a message of solidarity from Pope Francis, an Argentine, on a large screen.

    "Twenty years after a crazy tragedy, terrorism is an act of madness. Terrorism only know how to kill, it doesn't know how to construct, it destroys. For this reason I stand beside all those who have seen lives cut short, hopes curtailed, ruins," said the pope.
    Israel and world Jewish groups had denounced the "truth commission" deal with Iran, calling it a diplomatic win for Tehran that offered no benefit to Argentina. The deal would have let Iran review Argentina's investigation into the bombing.
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