Las Madres,Abuelas and the Juniors


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South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires
February 12th 2012
Published: February 12th 2012
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Good evening bloggers,I have just come back from having supper with a couple of school mates around the corner on Santa Fe. It is a beautiful summer evening and so pleasant to sit out on the terrace while the world goes by. I have had a busy couple of days here since I last spoke to you all and am always amazed how quickly the time goes.

Thursday I was greeted by a man hanging from the building across fom my balcony in the process of tearing away the thick growth of ivy covering the wall.A shame really, to see the lovely green that faced my window being stripped away, but I assume it has to do with the building deterioration or something,no se.

Thursday is also the day the mothers and grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo demonstrate and it is something I have wanted to see so camera carefully tucked into my old shoulder bag off I went. First stop however was to another Spanish school where a woman I met from San Diego is studying.She told me that her school has a trip organized to see the Boca Juniors playing football in their season opener on Friday so I thought that was not to be missed and stopped by to pay for the excursion.

Poorer by 590 pesos (about 150 dollars) I headed down to the Plaza for the demonstration which was to start at 3:30. The Plaza de Mayo is the square across from the Pink House (where the President works) and is the scene of most demonstrations and historic moments and speeches over the years, but the Madres demonstrate here on Thursdays and have been doing so since 1977. The first demonstration was 14 mothers, wearing the now iconic white head scarf , and was unprecedented and dangerous in the face of the brutal military governments ban on any public demonstartions at the time and the very real risk of arrest and torture if you disented in any way.The mothers however were not to be touched and presented a rather unassailable position under the banner of motherhood.

Over the years the group has split into two groups one (The Founding Line)seeking the recovery of the remains of the disappeared and bringing the perpetrators to justice and the Mothers, and now Grandmothers seeking information about the missing children and other social causes. The mothers are universally credited with starting the return to civil society that did not come back until 1983 when civilian rule returned.

The Malvinas is in the news every day here as the country moves towards the 30th anniversary of the deadly military fiasco brought upon the counrty by the generals and military government and every event seems to have a Malvinas sub plot attached and the Madres De La Plaza De Mayo are no different as you can see.

Friday was footbol day!! The season opener and a reason for celebration for those partisans sporting the blue and yellow of Boca Juniors. The arrangement was for us to be picked up in frot of McDonalds by the Obelisco. Yes folks there is Scottish food everywhere here in BA! The bus arrived more or less at the appointed hour of 4:30 and we all piled on to greet others already on from another rendevous. Two more stops and we were off to La Boca. The organizers led us in songs as part of our orientation and we were encouraged and exhorted to lend full voice and vigour to the singing of the songs!! First stop was a grungy little bar on the banks of the river/port area. I should say Boca is the toughest part of a tough town and not a place for the faint of heart at any time be it day or night. Guide books say do not wander here.

In any event our bus unloaded into this bar which had all the tables removed to make room for us. There were friendly smiling faces everywhere and free beer and pizza flowed and was served. cases of liter bottles of beer came from the cellars one after the other and we all did our best to rehydrate before the sporting event. This went on for a few hours with no apparent urgency or plan and many of us sat outside on the little boardwalk or the steps to get away from the smoke in the non smoking bar. Suddenly it was time to go and we went from full stop to hustled and counted on to the bus in seconds. The mood changed as we got closer with our guides seeming nervous and edgy. I assume this was the first of these excursions for the year being the first game but it was still a palpable feeling. The bus moved closer to La Bombonera which is the Boca stadium and the streets filled with people. We got a couple of blocks from the stadium and were told to get off and stick together. We moved as a group through the crowd following the leader and then stopped. they seemed uncertain about getting us all through the crowd and security but eventually off we went again.

The streets around La Bombonera were all closed and fenced off by large steel security fences put up that evening, We went through 7 separate security checkpoints all manned by riot equipped Federal and Municipal police,everyone was frisked ,ankles back arms toro. Seven times!!! each frisk and check point getting us closer to the stadium. Finally we got to the ticket takers and here we scanned an electronic card each of us had been given. These cards all had pictures of the card owners on them and none of them were pictures of us!! Not sure how all that worked but I can tell you that there are no tickets available to the public for Boca Juniors all the tickets are controlled by sports clubs. It all had a great underground and subversive feel to it. I learned many years ago travelling in africa to not judge these things but go with them and sure enough we all got in and the cards were collected again by our guides.

La Bombonera holds about 50,000 people I think, small by most Internationsl football standards but what they lack in numbers they make up for in enthusiasm. Songs and fists pumping,drummers drumming and their heroes on the field again. It was great,our section was what I would call endzone behind the goal. Cement rows to sit on and only coke to drink, I would have loved a free beer at the mid way point but alas a dry and controlled environment with hundreds of police inside and out.

Boca triumphed 2-0 to thrill the crowd in what I thought was a moderately exciting game but I am no judge.I find my appreciation of the game has improved since last years world cup coverage which I watched a lot.

At the end of the game we all remained sitting and waiting.Both endzones filled with Boca supporters were made to wait for about a half hour while the rest of the stadium left. The exits were blocked by helmeted riot police and I was told that were were waiting for the visitors to leave. I took that to mean that they manage the egress of people to ensure that the Boca fans do not pour out and into the visiting teams supporters which I assume has not ended well in the past. In any event everyone waited patiently until the police let us go and we walked back in a group down the darkened streets to our waiting bus. Quite a night.

I am off to Tigre tomorrow so will let you know how that goes. Buenas Noches Pedro

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