Emmanuel Macron will pay a symbolic tribute in Buenos Aires on Sunday to the victims, particularly French, of the Argentine military dictatorship, before meeting the ultraliberal President Javier Milei, accused of revisionism on this dark page in the history of the Latin American country.
The French president arrived in the Argentine capital on Saturday evening at the start of a regional tour and has already had a working dinner with his counterpart. Objective stated: to “connect” with the “international consensus” and the “priorities of the G20” in which they will then participate on Monday and Tuesday in Brazil.
The task promises to be complicated, as Javier Milei is an admirer of Donald Trump, tempted, like the Republican who has just been elected President of the United States for a second time, to turn his back on several multilateral commitments.
Argentina has just withdrawn its delegation from the COP29 climate negotiations in Baku and speculation is rife about its possible exit from the Paris Climate Agreement. A gesture that Donald Trump himself made during his first term.
Before a new interview with Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, the French head of state, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, will lay a wreath at the foot of the Santa Cruz church, a place of memory of the resistance against the dictatorship (1976-1983).
The Elysée evokes “a strong message” to “say that France does not forget”.
In December 1977, several founding members of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, who were demanding information about their missing loved ones, were arrested, tortured and murdered after meeting in this church.
Among the victims were French nuns Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon, who were kidnapped and then killed in a “death flight” of the dictatorship, thrown off the Rio de la Plata from a plane.
In all, at least 22 French people were listed among the dead or missing from this period.
– Review revisited –
Emmanuel Macron is not the first French leader to salute the memory of these victims. But the context has changed since Javier Milei came to power 11 months ago.
The president, and even more so his vice-president Victoria Villaruel, from a military family, are accused of revisionism by human rights organizations.
They prefer to speak of “war” against far-left “guerrillas” rather than “dictatorship”, to put the responsibility of the army into perspective.
And they do not hesitate to revisit the toll of the military junta in power during these years: while that, generally accepted, of human rights organizations reports 30,000 deaths, Javier Milei mentions less than 9,000 victims.
In July, six ruling party deputies visited Alfredo Astiz and other ex-soldiers convicted of crimes against humanity in prison. President Milei, however, distanced himself from this gesture.
Astiz, a 73-year-old ex-navy captain, was twice sentenced to life imprisonment in Argentina, notably for the kidnapping and disappearance of the French nuns. In France, he was sentenced in his absence to life in prison in 1990 for the same case.
Relatives of missing French people were received at the beginning of November by advisors to President Macron at the Elysée. They asked the head of state to convey to his Argentine counterpart their “concern” about the hypothetical release of Alfredo Astiz.
“At this stage, there is no questioning of the legal procedures which resulted in the conviction of the people responsible”, assure those around Emmanuel Macron, while specifying that they do not want “ interfere in Argentine domestic politics.
Jean-Pierre Lhande, president of the Association of Parents and Friends of the French Disappeared in Argentina, considered that the presidential tribute was “insufficient”.
“What I have been demanding for years is that we appoint someone responsible in France for the search for French people who have disappeared in Argentina and that Argentina appoints someone else,” he told the ‘AFP, stressing that time is running out because “the parents of the missing are almost all dead”.
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