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Letter From The Argentine Mothers
Members of the William
Kunstler Fund/Mothers of NY Disappeared made a recent trip
to Buenos Aires to meet the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who served
as the inspiration for their regular demonstrations against the
harsh New York Rockefeller Drug Laws. Below is a letter, translated
from the original Spanish, from the Argentine Madres de Plaza
de Mayo to NY Gov. George Pataki, published Monday, Feb 16th,
in NY's leading Spanish language news outlet, El Diario La
Prensa.
MADRES DE PLAZA DE MAYO LINEA FUNDADORA
To Mr. Governor of the State of New York, George Pataki
 Mothers
of Plaza de Mayo -Founder Line - is an organization for (in favor
of) life. We have worked during 27 years in favor of Memory,
Truth and Justice in our home country.
As a human rights movement we worry that they are fulfilled,
not only in our country but anywhere in the world where they
are subjugated.
Knowing through the institution Mothers of the New York Disappeared
(Madres de los Desaparecidos de Nueva York) of the inhumane conditions
of detention and prolonged sentences in the state of New York,
we ask the Governor George Pataki for the annulment of the Rockefeller
Laws, as they violate those rights and attempt against the dignity
of the person.
 The indefatigable
struggle of the Mothers and family members of that institution
have transformed, as we have, pain into an active resistance
from our place as Mothers of the detained-disappeared, demanding
TRUTH AND JUSTICE, which we extend to, in this opportunity to
the family members of the incarcerated in the state of New York.
For all of this we ask the Governor to become involved as
responsible for the injustices committed in the prisons and accelerate
carrying through all necessary for the annulment of the Rockefeller
Laws, thus, assuming a direct commitment to find a humanitarian
exit to put an end to this situation.
Through this letter we want to send our affection and solidarity
to the incarcerated, mothers and families of that State, and
commit with this cause in which we are accompanied by our:
30,000 DETAINED OR DISAPPEARED AT PRESENT
Respectfully, MADRES DE PLAZA DE MAYO LINEA FUNDADORA
Below is an account of the on-going visit of Mothers of the
NY Disappeared Co-Founders, Randy Credico and Anthony Papa, and
member Julie Colon, who have been welcomed by the Argentine Mothers
of the Disappeared in Argentina.
Their presence in Buenos Aries is a timely reminder that the
struggle to repeal the Rockefeller Drug laws here at home is
on going, and all of us are challenged to continue the fight
for justice.
As we approach the 31st anniversary of the signing of the
Rockefeller Drug Laws in New York State, I urge all of you to
take active part in demanding that the laws that unjustly imprison
thousands of people be repealed. The collateral consequences
of imprisonment for a mandatory minimum length of time (15 years
to Life, minimum to 25 year to Life, maximum) continue to mount
- most notably in the fact that A-1 felony convictions result
in the loss of voting rights. In this election year, it is our
responsibility to ensure that our elected representatives support
the people's desire to have these laws stricken from the books.
A more humane approach to the problem of drug use is needed.
And it is to your benefit as a citizen with a voice to demand
that your representative listen to you. - Jan Warren
Mothers to Mothers
New York Drug Reform Activists Visit Argentina
Members of the Mothers of the New York Disappeared, a group
devoted to repealing that state's draconian Rockefeller Drug
Laws, traveled this week to Argentina to meet with their namesakes
and inspiration, Argentina's Mothers and Grandmothers of the
Disappeared (www.madres.org
and www.madres-lineafundadora.org).
In a gesture of solidarity and support that stretches across
the hemisphere, the two groups fighting against repression and
for human rights met for the first time in Buenos Aires this
week.
The New York Mothers, part of a large and growing coalition
to "Drop the Rock," or repeal the Rockefeller Laws,
are made up of family members of some of the more than 20,000
people serving lengthy mandatory minimum sentences in the state.
Their Argentine counterparts formed in the 1970s to demand that
the Argentine government account for the thousands of people
who "disappeared" at the hands of the rightist military
dictatorship that took power in 1976.
The Argentine junta's "dirty war" against leftist
opponents-armed and unarmed alike -- was one of the darkest chapters
of 20th Century Latin American history. Somewhere between 10,000
and 30,000 students, trade unionists, peasants, human rights
workers, and complete innocents were kidnapped, tortured, and
killed by the military regime with the quiet acquiescence of
successive US governments, who viewed the Argentine atrocities
as part of a larger hemispheric struggle against communism. Many
were tortured at the Naval Mechanics School in Buenos Aires,
then drugged and tossed unconscious from Argentine Air Force
planes into the frigid waters of the South Atlantic. Others were
executed, then dressed in guerrilla uniforms and displayed as
battle casualties. Still others were buried in mass graves. Pregnant
women gave birth in captivity, then were killed, their infants
disappearing into military families.
The Argentine Mothers of the Disappeared (also known as the
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) were forged in this terrible crucible.
Beginning while the military junta still held power; they confronted
the military with the moral authority of wronged parents. The
Mothers, in their trademark white scarves, endured the sneers
and scorn of regime supporters, as well as threats, assaults,
and kidnappings, as they marched without fail every Thursday
in front of the presidential palace demanding justice. And they
still march, for justice has not been done. While some leaders
of the junta have since been jailed, the ultimate fate of thousands
of "disappeared" remains unknown, as do the whereabouts
of the babies born into captivity.
New York Mothers cofounders Randy Credico of the William Moses
Kunstler Fund for Social Justice (www.kunstler.org) and former Rockefeller
drug law prisoner Anthony Papa (www.15yearstolife.com) were joined by group
member Julie Colon for the trip. Colon is the daughter of Melita
Oliveira, who was arrested at JFK Airport in 1988 carrying cocaine
and sentenced to a mandatory minimum 15 years in prison. Oliveira
was granted clemency by New York Gov. George Pataki in December,
but now faces deportation to her native Peru as a "criminal
alien."
The New York Mothers of the Disappeared came to meet their
counterparts with some anxiety and trepidation because they were
unsure whether the Argentine Mothers would see their cause as
worthy, said Credico. "We were a little nervous," he
said. "It's one thing to be in jail for drugs and quite
another to be secretly tortured and killed for your political
beliefs. But they understood. They could see the political ramifications
of the drug war, and while there are different levels of repression,
they could see that these policies target the poor and the non-white."
Credico contacted the Mothers' groups in Argentina because
he wanted to honor them as role-models and explain the New York
Mothers' struggle to their Latin American counterparts. "We
decided we would go to show some gratitude and see if we could
come up with some support for our movement in New York,"
an exhausted Credico said by phone from Buenos Aires Tuesday
night.
The New Yorkers spent a busy week in Buenos Aires, meeting
on Tuesday with two groups of Mothers of the Disappeared, Wednesday
with the Grandmothers of the Disappeared, and participating Thursday
in the Mothers' weekly vigil at the Plaza de Mayo and at a well-attended
press conference following the vigil. This week's vigil honored
the New York Mothers of the Disappeared.
"The Argentine Mothers researched the Kunstler Fund and
the New York Mothers before we came down," said Credico.
"They knew about the two million people in prison in the
United States, they understood the racist aspect of the drug
war. They know what it means to have a person disappear from
your life, whether it's in Greenhaven state prison or an Argentine
torture chamber. We are flabbergasted, ecstatic, I'm at a loss
for words," said Credico, who rarely is.
 "We
are fighting the same fight," said Papa. "I went into
their offices and saw the posters on the walls and I broke out
it chills. It was just like my office, but these posters had
the names and faces of people killed or disappeared in the dirty
war. The Mothers understand that the drug war is our dirty war."
And they are lending a hand, Papa said. "They are writing
a letter to Gov. Pataki to ask him to change the Rockefeller
laws, and they are getting all the other human rights groups
to sign on." "I was kind of scared to meet with them
at first," said Julie Colon, the only Spanish-speaker among
the New Yorkers making the trip. "I didn't know what to
expect. But they embraced our cause, they understood our suffering,
and they support us."
"They are a real inspiration," said Credico, "there
is so much strength and courage. And they are old, some in their
70s and 80s. "They say 'we're not special heroes; these
are our children.' They kept going and going and going, and even
though their activism brought down the military government, they're
still not satisfied and they continue to fight. Just as once
we destroy the Rockefeller laws, we will still be on the street
fighting for justice."
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