Mothers of Plaza de Mayo co-founder and longtime leader Nora Cortinas dies at 94

Nora Cortiñas, a historic human rights activist who co-founded the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (Founding Branch), died on Thursday. She was in intensive care after undergoing a hernia operation two weeks ago. She was 94 years old.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1930, Nora Morales de Cortiñas, better known as “Norita,” co-founded Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in May 1977.

At the time, she was desperately searching for her eldest son, Carlos Gustavo, who was forcefully disappeared by the military dictatorship that ruled the country between 1976 and 1983.

Gustavo was an economist, a Justicialist (Peronist) Party political activist, and a member of the armed organization Montoneros - which perpetrated several hundred murders through the 1970s. He was kidnapped on April 15, 1977, and never seen again.

Cortiñas carried on the fight to bring justice to him and the 30,000 people disappeared by the dictatorship - helping lead to around 1,200 convictions over the past 20 years. Her tireless but moderate approach led her to break in 1986 with the more radical faction led by her co-founder, Hebe de Bonafini - who died 18 months ago at 93.

A social psychologist, she later taught a popular economics course, Economic Power and Human Rights, at the prestigious University of Buenos Aires.

She also expanded her activism to other areas regarding human rights, such as the right to safe and free legal abortion and the fight against police and gender-based violence.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/politics/mother-of-plaza-de-mayo-norita-cortinas-dies-at-94

Mothers of Plaza de Mayo co-founder and longtime leader Nora Cortiñas, 1930-2024.

Speaking during a 2011 interview, the renowned Argentine academic and human rights activist carries a photo of her son, Carlos, who was “disappeared” by the fascist last dictatorship in 1977.