Armed men assault Argentine human rights activist in 'political' attack

An activist with the human rights group H.I.J.O.S. was tied, beaten and sexually assaulted in a “political” attack at her home, the organization has reported.

Two men allegedly broke into the activist’s home in Buenos Aires and waited to attack her when she returned, holding her at gunpoint and threatening to kill her.

“We haven’t come to rob you, we’ve come to kill you,” they reportedly told her. “They’re paying us for this.”

“This attempt on her life is a political attack, motivated by her human rights and feminist activism. Nothing of value was taken, they only took folders with information about our group,” the organization wrote in a statement.

The organization added that the assailants painted “VLLC” on the wall, the acronym for far-right President Javier Milei’s libertarian slogan viva la libertad, carajo ("long live freedom, dammit" ).

Milei, Vice President Victoria Villarruel, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, and Defense Minister Luis Petri have all downplayed and/or rationalized the crimes of Argentina’s last dictatorship (1976-83).

Petri yesterday met with relatives of some of those convicted, and lauded the atrocities outright.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/human-rights/armed-men-assault-activist-in-political-attack-rights-group-reports

Members of the Argentine human rights group H.I.J.O.S. joins a demonstration commemorating the 40th anniversary of the fascist, 1976 coup in 2016.

An H.I.J.O.S. activist was brutally attacked in her home in Buenos Aires recently - an attack which comes on the heels on a mounting social media campaign on the part of the far-right Javier Milei administration to demonize opponents in general and activists in particular.

The attack comes day before the March 24th anniversary of the coup - which in Argentina is commemorated as the Day Memory, Truth, and Justice.

The group (Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice Against Forgetfulness and Silence) has spearheaded efforts to locate and prosecute dictatorship-era torturers and other perpetrators of the country's 1970s-era Dirty War.

Over 1,100 have been convicted since former President Néstor Kirchner - widely hated by the Argentine right - lifted their immunity from prosecution in 2003.